Annual Report, Fiscal Year 1998
Agency: Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR)
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/foiafy98.htm
Address For Paper Copies of Report:
Office of Health Care Information
Agency for Health Care Policy and Research
Suite 501, Executive Office Center
2101 E. Jefferson Street
Rockville, MD 20852
How To Make a FOIA Request:
Submit a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Agency for Health Care
Policy and Research (AHCPR) in writing by mail or by fax. The agency does not
accept requests via telephone or email. 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/foia/.
A. Names, addresses, and telephone numbers of all individual agency components
and offices that process FOIA requests:
N/A
B. Brief description of agency's response time range(s):
Many of our requests were processed and completed within 5 working days.
C. Brief description of why some requests are not granted:
Documents requested were protected by Exemption (b)2 and (b)6.
Documents requested were not found.
Definitions of Terms and Acronyms Used in Report:
A. Agency-specific acronyms or other terms:
AHCPR - Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, is an agency within the
Department of Health and Human Services. The agency is charged with
supporting research designed to improve the quality of health care, reduce
its cost and broaden access to essential services.
B. Basic terms:
FOIA - Freedom of Information Act request. A FOIA request is generally a
request for access to records concerning a third party, an organization, or
a particular topic of interest.
Processed/Completed Request - a request for which AHCPR took final action
on the request.
Denial - AHCPR made a decision not to release any part of a record or records
in response to a FOIA request because all the information in the requested
records is determined by the agency to be exempt under one or more of the FOIAs
exemptions, or for some procedural reason.
Exemption 3 statute - a separate federal statute prohibiting the disclosure
of a certain type of information and authorizing its withholding under FOIA
subsection (b)(3).
Exemption 2 statute - a federal statute prohibiting the disclosure of the
agency's internal personnel rules and practices.
Exemption 3 Statutes:
A. List of Exemption 3 statutes relied on by the agency during report year:
Section 821(b) of Public Law 104-201
1. Brief description of type(s) of information withheld under each statute:
Technical proposals
2. Has a court upheld the use of each statute? If so, cite example:
N/A
Initial FOIA/PA Access Requests
A. Numbers of initial requests:
1. Number of requests pending at close of preceding fiscal year: 3
2. Number of requests received during reporting fiscal year: 95
3. Number of requests processed during reporting fiscal year: 98
4. Number of requests pending at close of reporting fiscal year: 0
B. Disposition of Initial Requests:
1. Number granted in full 80
2. Number granted in part 1
3. Number of full and partial denials
Full denials 1
Partial denials 16
a. Number of times each FOIA exemption was used:
Exemption 1 0
Exemption 2 1
Exemption 3 8
Exemption 4 14
Exemption 5 0
Exemption 6 2
Exemption 7 1
Exemption 8 0
Exemption 9 0
4. Other reasons for non-disclosure (total) 10
a. no records 5
b. referrals 1
c. request withdrawn 4
d. fee-related reason 0
e. records not reasonably described 0
f. not a proper FOIA request for some other reason 0
g. not an agency record 0
h. duplicate request 0
i. other (specify) 0
Appeals of Initial Denials of FOIA/PA Requests:
A. Numbers of Appeals:
1. Number of appeals received during the fiscal year 1
2. Number of appeals processed during the fiscal year 1
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
Exemption 1
Exemption 2
Exemption 3
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:
a. number of requests processed 98
b. median number of days to process 14
2. Complex Requests:
a. number of requests processed 0
b. median number of days to process 0
3. Requests Accorded Expedited Processing:
a. number of requests processed 0
b. median number of days to process 0
B. Status of Pending Requests.
1. Number of requests pending as of the end of the fiscal year
covered in this report 0
2. Median number of days that such requests were pending as of that date 0
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) 3/4
B. Total costs (including staff and all resources):
1. FOIA processing (including appeals) $23,000.00
2. Litigation-related activities (estimated) 0
3. Total costs $23,000.00
4. Comparison with previous year $15,000.00
Fees:
A. Total amount of fees collected by agency for processing requests: $863.00
B. Percentage of total costs: 3.75%
Internet Citation:
Freedom of Information Activities: Annual Report, Fiscal Year 1998. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/foia/foiafy98.htm