Agency: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
Report Prepared By: Nancy Comfort
Title: Freedom of Information Officer
Address: 2101 E. Jefferson Street, Rockville, MD 20852
Phone number: (301) 427-1866
Electronic Address for Report on the World Wide Web: www.ahrq.gov/news/foiafy01.htm
Address For Paper Copies of Report:
Office of Health Care Information
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Suite 501, Room 5E96
2101 E. Jefferson Street
Rockville, MD 20852
How To Make a FOIA Request:
(Describe or provide electronic address for instructions in FOIA reference guide)
Submit a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Agency for Healthcare Research and
Quality (AHRQ) in writing by mail or fax. The agency does not accept requests via telephone
or E-mail. The address is as follows:
Nancy Comfort
Freedom of Information Officer
Agency for Health Care Policy and Research
540 Gaither Road, Room 2222
Rockville, MD 20850
Our fax number is: (301) 427-1873.
You may obtain additional information about FOIA and our agency by visiting our
Web site at: http://www.ahrq.gov/news/foia.htm.
A. Names , addresses, and telephone numbers of all individual agency components and offices that
process FOIA requests (do not include coordinating offices; do not use persons' names—only
titles):
N/A
B. Brief description of agency's response time range(s):
Most of the requests are completed within 25 days or less.
C. Brief description of why some requests are not granted:
Requests were withdrawn, were not a FOIA request and the agency received one request that was too
broad. The agency received one request and the documents were protected by an exemption and release
would cause harm to the agency.
Definitions of Terms and Acronyms Used in Report:
A. Agency-specific acronyms or other terms:
AHRQ—Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
B. Basic terms (from FOIA UPDATE, Summer 1997):
FOIA—Freedom of Information Act
Exemption 3 Statutes:
A. List of Exemption 3 statutes relied on by the agency during report year:
None
1. Brief description of type(s) of information withheld under each statute:
2. Has a court upheld the use of each statute? If so, cite example:
Initial FOIA/PA Access Requests (Include all requests, 3rd or 1st party):
A. Numbers of initial requests (line 1 + line 2—line 3 = line 4):
1. Number of requests pending at close of preceding fiscal year: 3
2. Number of requests received during reporting fiscal year: 113
3. Number of requests processed during reporting fiscal year: 108
4. Number of requests pending at close of reporting fiscal year: 8
(Enter this number also as Line VII.B.1.)
B. Disposition of Initial Requests:
1. Number granted in full 32
2. Number granted in part 41
3. Number of full and partial denials 1
a. Number of times each FOIA exemption was used:
Exemption 1 0
Exemption 2 0
Exemption 3 0
Exemption 4 0
Exemption 5 1
Exemption 6 0
Exemption 7 0
Exemption 8 0
Exemption 9 0
4. Other reasons for non-disclosure (total)
a. no records 19
b. referrals 3
c. request withdrawn 8
d. fee-related reason 0
e. records not reasonably described 1
f. not a proper FOIA request for some other reason 3
g. not an agency record 0
h. duplicate request 0
i. other (specify) 0
Appeal of Initial Denials of FOIA/PA Requests (include all access requests whether
first or third party):
A. Numbers of Appeals:
1. Number of appeals received during the fiscal year 0
2. Number of appeals processed during the fiscal year 0
B. Disposition of Appeals: N/A
1. Number completely upheld
2. Number partially reversed
3. Number completely reversed
a. Number of times each FOIA exemption used (counting each exemption used once per
appeal)
Exemption I
Exemption 2
Exemption 3
Exemption 4
Exemption 5
Exemption 6
Exemption 7
Exemption 7(A)
Exemption 7(B)
Exemption 7(C)
Exemption 7(D)
Exemption 7(E)
Exemption 7(F)
Exemption 8
Exemption 9
4. Other reasons for non-disclosure (total)
a. no records
b. referrals
c. request withdrawn
d. fee-related reason
e. records not reasonably described
f. not a proper FOIA request for some other reason
g. not an agency record
h. duplicate request
i. other (specify)
Compliance With Time Limits/Status of Pending Requests:
A. Median Processing Time for Requests Processed During the Year.
1. Simple Requests (if multiple tracks used):
a. number of requests processed 100
b. median number of days to process 25
2. Complex Requests (specify for any and all tracks used):
a. number of requests processed
b. median number of days to process
3. Requests Accorded Expedited Processing:
a. number of requests processed
b. median number of days to process
B. Status of Pending Requests (if multiple tracks are being used, report for each
track as well as totals).
1. Number of requests pending as of the end of the fiscal year
covered in this report (from Line V.A.4) 16
2. Median number of days that such requests were pending as of that date 10
Costs/FOIA Staffing:
A. Staffing levels:
1. Number of full-time FOIA personnel 1
2. Number of personnel with part-time or occasional
FOIA duties (in total work-years) 1/4
3. Total number of personnel (in work years) 1 1/4
B. Total costs (including staff and all resources):
1. FOIA processing (including appeals) $42,392.50
2. Litigation-related activities (estimated) 0
3. Total costs $42,392.50
4. Comparison with previous year(s) (including percentage of change) (optional)
Fees
A. Total amount of fees collected by agency for processing requests: $203.00
B. Percentage of total costs: 0
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