The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) released an interim final rule with comment period that extends the compliance deadline to meet certain requirements for information blocking and health information technology (IT) certification. In March 2020, the ONC's Cures Act Final Rule established exceptions to the information blocking provision in the 21st Century Cures Act, and adopted new health IT certification requirements to enhance patient access to their health information with a smartphone at no cost through the use of application programming interface (API). The ONC extended the compliance deadline as stakeholders must prioritise to manage the needs that arise during the COVID-19 pandemic.