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Freedom of Information Activities
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HHS Freedom of Information Annual Report—FY 2010
Annual report on Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and activities by the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHRQ).
I. Basic Information Regarding Report
1. Name, title, address, and telephone number of person(s) to be contacted with
questions about the Report.
Nancy Comfort
Freedom of Information Officer
540 Gaither Road
Rockville, MD 20850
(301) 427-1866
2. Electronic address for this report on the World Wide Web:
http://www.ahrq.gov/foia/foiaindx.htm#Reports
3. Address for paper copies of this report
Contact Nancy Comfort at
the address or telephone number listed above, or the link shown: http://www.ahrq.gov/foia/instruct.htm.
** Copies of the annual reports of a number of individual HHS Operating Divisions can be found by
contacting the responsible component shown in Section II below, or by locating a FOIA link at the following Web sites:
Administration on Aging (AOA): http://www.aoa.gov/AoARoot/Site_Utilities/FOIA/
Administration for Children and Families (ACF): http://www.acf.hhs.gov/acf_foia.html
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ): http://www.ahrq.gov/news/foia.htm
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): http://www.cdc.gov/od/foia/
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS): http://www.cms.hhs.gov/foia/
Food and Drug Administration (FDA): http://www.fda.gov/RegulatoryInformation/foi/
Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA): http://www.hrsa.gov/foia/
Indian Health Service (IHS):
http://www.ihs.gov/AdminMngrResources/FOIA/
National Institute of Health (NIH): http://www.nih.gov/icd/od/foia/
Office of Inspector General (OIG): http://oig.hhs.gov/foia/
Office of Public Health and Science (OPHS): http://www.psc.gov/foia/
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: http://www.samhsa.gov/foia/
II. How to Make a FOIA Request
Requests may be submitted electronically at: foiarequests@ahrq.hhs.gov.
- HHS and OPDIV Freedom of Information Officers/FOIA Requester Service Centers:
Health and Human Services (HHS)
Freedom of Information Officer
Mary E. Switzer Building, Room 2206
330 C Street, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20201
Phone: 202-690-7453
Administration for Children and
Families (ACF)
Freedom of Information Officer
901 D Street, S.W.
7th Floor West
Aerospace Building
Washington, D.C. 20447
Phone: 202-401-9215
Administration on Aging (AOA)
Freedom of Information Officer
Washington, D.C. 20201
Phone: 202-357-3540
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMS)
Freedom of Information Officer
North Building, Room N2-20-06
7500 Security Boulevard
Baltimore, Maryland 21244
Phone: 410-786-5353
Office of Inspector General (OIG)
Freedom of Information Officer
Cohen Building, Suite 1062
330 Independence Ave, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20201
Phone: 202-619-2541
Office of Public Health and Science (OPHS)
Freedom of Information Officer
Room 17-66, Parklawn Building
5600 Fishers Lane
Rockville, MD 20857
Phone: 301-443-5252
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
Freedom of Information Officer
540 Gaither Road
The Eisenberg Building, Room 3129
Rockville, Maryland 20850
Phone: 301-427-1866
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and/or
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)
Freedom of Information Officer
1600 Clifton Road, N.E., MS D-54
Atlanta, Georgia 30333
Phone: 404-498-1580
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Freedom of Information Officer
Parklawn Building, Room 6-30
5600 Fishers Lane
Rockville, Maryland 20857
Phone: 301-827-6567
Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
Freedom of Information Officer
Parklawn Building, Room 14-15
5600 Fishers Lane
Rockville, Maryland 20857
Phone: 301-443-3376
Indian Health Service (IHS)
Freedom of Information Officer
12300 Twinbrook Parkway, Suite 450
Twinbrook II, Metro Plaza Building
Rockville, Maryland 20857
Phone: 301-443-1116
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Freedom of Information Officer
Building 31, Room 5B35
9000 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, Maryland 20892
Phone: 301-496-5633
Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration (SAMHSA)
Freedom of Information Officer
1 Choke Cherry Road, Room 8-1042
Rockville, Maryland 20857
Phone: 240-276-2137
- Brief description of why some requests are not granted:
Documents requested were protected by an exemption and release would have
caused harm to the interest protected by the exemption. Information
withheld may include home addresses and phone numbers, social security
numbers, medical records, proprietary business records, investigatory
records, that if released may interfere with open investigations, and
drafts of documents.
III. Acronyms, Definitions, and Exemptions
- Agency-specific acronyms or other terms:
HHS—U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services OPDIVs—Operating Divisions of
HHS OS—Office of the Secretary, HHS OASPA—Office of the Assistant
Secretary for Public Affairs, HHS AoA—Administration on Aging ACF—Administration for Children
and Families AHRQ—Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality ATSDR—Agency for Toxic
Substances and Disease Registry CDC—Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention FDA—Food and Drug Administration HRSA—Health Resources and
Services Administration IHS—Indian Health Service NIH—National Institutes of
Health OIG—Office of the Inspector
General OPHS—Office of Public Health and
Science PHS—Public Health Service PRO—Professional Review
Organization PSC—Program Support Center SAMHSA—Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration
Basic terms (from FOIA UPDATE, Summer 1997):
- Administrative Appeal—a request to a federal
agency asking that it review at a higher administrative level a FOIA
determination made by the agency at the initial request level.
- Average Number—the number obtained by dividing
the sum of a group of numbers by the quantity of numbers in the group.
For example, of 3, 7, and 14, the average number is 8.
- Backlog—the number of requests or administrative
appeals that are pending at an agency at the end of the fiscal year that
are beyond the statutory time period for a response.
- Component—for agencies that process requests on
a decentralized basis, a "component" is an entity, also sometimes
referred to as an Office, Division, Bureau, Center, or Directorate,
within the agency that processes FOIA requests. The FOIA now requires
that agencies include in their annual report data for both the agency
overall and for each principal component of the agency.
- Consultation—the procedure whereby the agency
responding to a FOIA request first forwards a record to another agency
for its review because that agency has an interest in the document. Once
the agency in receipt of the consultation finishes its review of the
record, it responds back to the agency that forwarded it. That Agency, in
turn, will then respond to the FOIA requester.
- Exemption 3 Statute—a federal statute that
exempts information from disclosure and which the agency relies on to
withhold information under subsection (b)(3) of the FOIA.
- FOIA Request—a FOIA request is generally a
request to a federal agency for access to records concerning another
person (i.e., a "third-party" request), or concerning an organization, or
a particular topic of interest. FOIA requests also include requests made
by requesters seeking records concerning themselves (i.e., "first-party"
requests) when those requesters are not subject to the Privacy Act, such
as non-U.S. citizens. Moreover, because all first-party requesters should
be afforded the benefit of both the access provisions of the FOIA as well
as those of the Privacy Act, FOIA requests also include any first-party
requests where an agency determines that it must search beyond its
Privacy Act "systems of records" or where a Privacy Act exemption
applies, and the agency looks to FOIA to afford the greatest possible
access. All requests which require the agency to utilize the FOIA in
responding to the requester are included in this Report. Additionally, a
FOIA request includes records referred to the agency for processing and
direct response to the requester. It does not, however, include records
for which the agency has received a consultation from another agency. (Consultations
are reported separately in Section XII of this Report.)
- Full Grant—an agency decision to disclose all
records in full in response to a FOIA request.
- Full Denial—an agency decision not to release
any records in response to a FOIA request because the records are exempt
in their entireties under one or more of the FOIA exemptions, or because
of a procedural reason, such as when no records could be located.
- Median Number—Median Number—the middle, not
average, number. For example, of 3, 7, and 14, the median number is 7.
- Multi-Track Processing—a system in which simple
requests requiring relatively minimal review are placed in one processing
track and more voluminous and complex requests are placed in one or more
other tracks. Requests granted expedited processing are placed in yet
another track. Requests in each track are processed on a first in/first
out basis.
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Expedited Processing—an
agency will process a FOIA request on an expedited basis when a requester
satisfies the requirements for expedited processing as set forth in the statute
and in agency regulations.
- Simple Request—a
FOIA request that an agency using multi-track processing places in its fastest
(non-expedited) track based on the low volume and/or simplicity of the records
requested.
- Complex Request—a
FOIA request that an agency using multi-track processing places in a slower
track based on the high volume and/or complexity of the records requested.
- Partial Grant/Partial Denial—in response to a
FOIA request, an agency decision to disclose portions of the records and
to withhold other portions that are exempt under the FOIA, or to
otherwise deny a portion of the request for a procedural reason.
- Pending Request or Pending Administrative Appeal—a request or administrative appeal for which an agency has not taken
final action in all respects.
- Perfected Request—a request for records which
reasonably describes such records and is made in accordance with
published rules stating the time, place, fees (if any) and procedures to
be followed.
- Processed Request or Processed Administrative Appeal—a request or administrative appeal for which an agency has taken final
action in all respects.
- Range in Number of Days—the lowest and highest
number of days to process requests or administrative appeals.
- Time Limits—the time period in the statute for
an agency to respond to a FOIA request (ordinarily twenty working days
from receipt of a perfected FOIA request).
Concise descriptions of the nine FOIA exemptions:
- Exemption 1: classified national defense and
foreign relations information.
- Exemption 2: internal agency rules and practices.
- Exemption 3: information that is prohibited from
disclosure by another federal law.
- Exemption 4: trade secrets and other confidential
business information.
- Exemption 5: inter-agency or intra-agency
communications that are protected by legal privileges.
- Exemption 6: information involving matters of
personal privacy.
- Exemption 7: records or information compiled for
law enforcement purposes, to the extent that the production of those
records.
- Could reasonably be expected to
interfere with enforcement proceedings.
- Would deprive a person of a
right to a fair trial or an impartial adjudication.
- Could reasonably be expected
to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.
- Could reasonably be expected to
disclose the identity of a confidential source.
- Would disclose techniques
and procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions, or would
disclose guidelines for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions.
- Could reasonably be
expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any individual.
- Exemption 8: information relating to the supervision of financial institutions.
- Exemption 9: geological information on wells.
IV. Exemption 3 Statutes
Statute |
Type of Information Withheld |
Case Citation |
Number of Times Relied upon per Component |
Total Number of Times Relied upon by Agency |
Public Health Service Act 42 U.S.C. 299c-3(c) and (d) |
Research data in databases |
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2 |
2 |
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V. FOIA Requests
- Received, Processed, and Pending FOIA Requests:
Component |
Number of Requests Pending as of Start of Fiscal Year |
Number of Requests Received in Fiscal Year |
Number of Requests Processed in Fiscal Year |
Number of Requests Pending as of End of Fiscal Year |
OS |
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ACF |
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AOA |
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CMS |
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OIG |
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OPHS/PSC |
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AHRQ |
11 |
57 |
61 |
7 |
CDC |
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FDA |
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HRSA |
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IHS |
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NIH |
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SAMHSA |
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HHS Total |
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- (1) Disposition of all FOIA Requests—All Processed Requests:
Component |
Number of Full Grants |
Number of Partial Grants/ Partial Denials |
Number of Full Denials Based on Exemptions |
Number of Full Denials Based on Reasons Other than Exemptions |
Total |
No Records |
All Records Referred to another Component or Agency |
Request Withdrawn |
Fee-Related Reason |
Records not Reasonably Described |
Improper FOIA Request for Other Reason |
Not Agency Record |
Duplicate Request |
Other "Explain in chart below" |
OS |
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ACF |
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AOA |
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OIG |
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OPHS/PSC |
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AHRQ |
12 |
23 |
2 |
12 |
4 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
61 |
CDC |
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FDA |
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HRSA |
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IHS |
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NIH |
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SAMHSA |
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HHS Total |
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- (2) Disposition of FOIA Requests—Other Reasons for "Full Denials Based on Reasons Other than Exemptions" from Section V, B (1):
Component |
Description of "Other" Reasons for Denials from Chart B (1) & Number of Times Those Reasons Were Relied upon |
Total |
OS
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ACF
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AOA
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CMS
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OIG |
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OPHS/PSC
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AHRQ
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CDC
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FDA
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HRSA
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IHS
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NIH
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SAMHSA
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HHS Total
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- (3) Disposition of FOIA Requests—Number of times
exemptions applied:
Component |
Ex. 1 |
Ex.2 |
Ex.3 |
Ex.4 |
Ex.5 |
Ex.6 |
Ex. 7(A) |
Ex. 7(B) |
Ex. 7(C) |
Ex. 7(D) |
Ex. 7(E) |
Ex. 7(F) |
Ex. 8 |
Ex. 9 |
OS |
0 |
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0 |
0 |
ACF |
0 |
| |
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| |
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0 |
0 |
AOA |
0 |
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| |
| |
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0 |
0 |
CMS |
0 |
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0 |
0 |
OIG |
0 |
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0 |
0 |
OPHS/PSC |
0 |
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0 |
0 |
AHRQ |
0 |
0 |
2 |
25 |
0 |
14 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
CDC |
0 |
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0 |
0 |
FDA |
0 |
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0 |
0 |
HRSA |
0 |
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0 |
0 |
IHS |
0 |
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0 |
0 |
NIH |
0 |
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0 |
0 |
SAMHSA |
0
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0
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0
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HHS Total |
0 |
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0
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0
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Proceed to Next Section
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