No real change, but setting squawk to 7700 and notifying ATC is one of the early steps PM has to make while PF initiates descent, so ATC would be informed pretty quickly.
The only thing that changed recently, is that we no longer turn away from the route, as we don't really fly on airways anymore, but rather random direct routings. We can still use TCAS indications to turn away from any conflicting traffic before ATC is informed, though.