CMS Hospital CoPs on Patient Rights Standards 2026

Any hospital that accepts Medicare reimbursement must comply with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Conditions of Participation (CoPs). The patient rights section of the CMS CoPs manual has the highest number of deficiencies for hospitals.

The information from this webinar applies to all hospitals, Acute or Critical Access, and will cover the CoPs Appendix A section on patient rights. The regulations for Critical Access Hospitals were added late in 2025 and are not yet part of Appendix W.

This session will address grievances, the right to receive notice of patient rights, exercise of rights, informed consent, privacy, confidentiality of medical records, safety, advance directives, interpreters, abuse and neglect, plan of care, visitation rules, and support person rights.

At the conclusion of this session, participants should be able to:

• Explain that the CMS regulations regarding grievances includes the requirement to have a grievance committee.
• Describe the CMS has requirements for advance directives.
• Discuss the CMS requirement for providing patients and/or their representatives information on patient rights.
• Recall the various requirements for when a patient is placed into restraints and/or seclusion.