diff --git a/cumulus_etl/etl/cli.py b/cumulus_etl/etl/cli.py
index 1b4b8994..40563aab 100644
--- a/cumulus_etl/etl/cli.py
+++ b/cumulus_etl/etl/cli.py
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
 import os
 import shutil
 import sys
-import tempfile
 from collections.abc import Iterable
 
 import rich
@@ -24,21 +23,6 @@
 ###############################################################################
 
 
-async def load_and_deidentify(loader: loaders.Loader, resources: Iterable[str]) -> tempfile.TemporaryDirectory:
-    """
-    Loads the input directory and does a first-pass de-identification
-
-    Code outside this method should never see the original input files.
-
-    :returns: a temporary directory holding the de-identified files in FHIR ndjson format
-    """
-    # First step is loading all the data into a local ndjson format
-    loaded_dir = await loader.load_all(list(resources))
-
-    # Second step is de-identifying that data (at a bulk level)
-    return await deid.Scrubber.scrub_bulk_data(loaded_dir.name)
-
-
 async def etl_job(
     config: JobConfig, selected_tasks: list[type[tasks.EtlTask]], use_philter: bool = False
 ) -> list[JobSummary]:
@@ -238,13 +222,20 @@ async def etl_main(args: argparse.Namespace) -> None:
                 root_input, client=client, export_to=args.export_to, since=args.since, until=args.until
             )
 
-        # Pull down resources and run the MS tool on them
-        deid_dir = await load_and_deidentify(config_loader, required_resources)
+        # Pull down resources from any remote location (like s3), convert from i2b2, or do a bulk export
+        loaded_dir = await config_loader.load_all(list(required_resources))
+
+        # If *any* of our tasks need bulk MS de-identification, run it
+        if any(t.needs_bulk_deid for t in selected_tasks):
+            loaded_dir = await deid.Scrubber.scrub_bulk_data(loaded_dir.name)
+        else:
+            print("Skipping bulk de-identification.")
+            print("These selected tasks will de-identify resources as they are processed.")
 
         # Prepare config for jobs
         config = JobConfig(
             args.dir_input,
-            deid_dir.name,
+            loaded_dir.name,
             args.dir_output,
             args.dir_phi,
             args.input_format,
diff --git a/cumulus_etl/etl/studies/covid_symptom/covid_tasks.py b/cumulus_etl/etl/studies/covid_symptom/covid_tasks.py
index 288be675..0aad990e 100644
--- a/cumulus_etl/etl/studies/covid_symptom/covid_tasks.py
+++ b/cumulus_etl/etl/studies/covid_symptom/covid_tasks.py
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ class CovidSymptomNlpResultsTask(tasks.EtlTask):
     name = "covid_symptom__nlp_results"
     resource = "DocumentReference"
     tags = {"covid_symptom", "gpu"}
+    needs_bulk_deid = False
     outputs = [tasks.OutputTable(schema=None, group_field="docref_id")]
 
     def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
diff --git a/cumulus_etl/etl/studies/hftest/hf_tasks.py b/cumulus_etl/etl/studies/hftest/hf_tasks.py
index 749527e4..f9d85aeb 100644
--- a/cumulus_etl/etl/studies/hftest/hf_tasks.py
+++ b/cumulus_etl/etl/studies/hftest/hf_tasks.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ class HuggingFaceTestTask(tasks.EtlTask):
 
     name = "hftest__summary"
     resource = "DocumentReference"
+    needs_bulk_deid = False
     outputs = [tasks.OutputTable(schema=None)]
 
     # Task Version
diff --git a/cumulus_etl/etl/tasks/base.py b/cumulus_etl/etl/tasks/base.py
index 4640a456..c83e407c 100644
--- a/cumulus_etl/etl/tasks/base.py
+++ b/cumulus_etl/etl/tasks/base.py
@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@ class EtlTask:
     name: str = None  # task & table name
     resource: str = None  # incoming resource that this task operates on (will be included in bulk exports etc)
     tags: set[str] = []
+    needs_bulk_deid = True  # whether this task needs bulk MS tool de-id run on its inputs (NLP tasks usually don't)
 
     outputs: list[OutputTable] = [OutputTable()]
 
diff --git a/tests/etl/test_etl_cli.py b/tests/etl/test_etl_cli.py
index 43c217b9..1fcbda97 100644
--- a/tests/etl/test_etl_cli.py
+++ b/tests/etl/test_etl_cli.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 import tempfile
 from unittest import mock
 
+import ddt
 import pytest
 from ctakesclient.typesystem import Polarity
 
@@ -88,6 +89,7 @@ def assert_output_equal(self, folder: str):
         self.assert_etl_output_equal(os.path.join(self.data_dir, folder), self.output_path)
 
 
+@ddt.ddt
 class TestEtlJobFlow(BaseEtlSimple):
     """Test case for the sequence of data through the system"""
 
@@ -95,6 +97,19 @@ async def test_batched_output(self):
         await self.run_etl(batch_size=1)
         self.assert_output_equal("batched-output")
 
+    @ddt.data(
+        (["covid_symptom__nlp_results"], False),
+        (["patient"], True),
+        (["covid_symptom__nlp_results", "patient"], True),
+    )
+    @ddt.unpack
+    async def test_ms_deid_skipped_if_not_needed(self, tasks: list[str], expected_ms_deid: bool):
+        with self.assertRaises(SystemExit):
+            with mock.patch("cumulus_etl.deid.Scrubber.scrub_bulk_data") as mock_deid:
+                with mock.patch("cumulus_etl.etl.cli.etl_job", side_effect=SystemExit):
+                    await self.run_etl(tasks=tasks)
+        self.assertEqual(1 if expected_ms_deid else 0, mock_deid.call_count)
+
     async def test_downloaded_phi_is_not_kept(self):
         """Verify we remove all downloaded PHI even if interrupted"""
         internal_phi_dir = None