OCR announces enforcement discretion for HIPAA noncompliance relating to online COVID-19 vaccination appointment scheduling applications

HHS' Office for Civil Rights has announced that it will exercise its enforcement discretion for healthcare providers' and their business associates' noncompliance with the HIPAA rules with respect to their good faith use of online or web-based scheduling applications for scheduling COVID-19 vaccination appointments. OCR will not impose penalties for noncompliance during the public health emergency.