On April 9, 2020, the Office for Civil Rights ("OCR")
of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
("HHS") announced that it will exercise its enforcement discretion and not impose
penalties on covered entities or their business associates for
noncompliance with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability
Act ("HIPAA") regulatory requirements in connection with
their good faith participation in a COVID-19 Community-Based
Testing Site ("CBTS") during the COVID-19 public health
emergency. OCR defines a CBTS as a mobile, drive-through or walk-up
site that solely provides COVID-19 specimen collection or testing
services to the public. The enforcement discretion was made
effective as of April 9, 2020, but retroactively covers any actions
taken by HIPAA-covered health care providers and their business
associates since March 13, 2020.
