When a doctor treating a North Carolina nursing home patient asked a nurse to text the resident's lab results, only the two authorized medical professionals saw the message -- but the residential facility ended up paying a high price for using this inherently insecure messaging medium. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) gave the unnamed skilled nursing facility an "e-level deficiency," meaning there was "no actual harm but potential for more than minimal harm," according to a blog by law firm Poyner Spruill. As a result, CMS imposed a 10-point Directed Plan of Correction (DPOC) to be implemented within 15 days.
