Healthcare Providers Seeking Your COVID-19 Plasma

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued amended guidance on August 24, 2020, on how the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rule permits covered healthcare providers (e.g., hospitals, pharmacies, laboratories) and health plans to contact their patients and beneficiaries who have recovered from COVID-19 disease, to inform them about how they can donate their plasma containing antibodies, known as "convalescent plasma."

Roger Severino, OCR Director stated: "We will continue to use every tool at our disposal to beat this coronavirus and keep Americans healthy."