2022 Chief FOIA Officer Report U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Introduction

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS or DepartmentIn this report, “HHS” or “Department” means the entire agency, including all operating divisions and offices.) is the United States government’s principal agency for protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services, especially for those who are least able to help themselves. The Department fulfills that mission and serves the public by providing for effective health and human services and fostering advances in medicine, public health, and social services, through programs and initiatives that cover a wide spectrum of activities, serving Americans at every stage of life.  Eleven operating divisions, including eight agencies in the U.S. Public Health Service and three human services agencies, administer HHS FOIA programs. 

The Freedom of Information Act5 U.S.C. §552 (FOIA) programs within HHS are one of many important functions that contribute to the Department’s ability to successfully execute our mission and realize our strategic goals. I am pleased to submit the 2022 Chief FOIA Officer Report to the Attorney General of the United States, which summarizes the Department’s initiatives to comply with the FOIA, enhance departmental FOIA operations, and facilitate information disclosure.

HHS is proud of our continued FOIA accomplishments during the 2022 reporting period.  We continue to maintain and reinforce the Department’s commitment to the fair and responsible implementation of the Act.

We look forward to continuing to identify and implement additional best practices in our FOIA operations and, thereby, demonstrate the Department’s ongoing commitment to the spirit of FOIA and the government’s transparency and open government goals.

Sarah Lovenheim
Agency Chief FOIA Officer
Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs
Department of Health and Human Services

FOIA at the Department of Health and Human Services

HHS FOIA administration is decentralized and consists of 12 FOIA Requester Service Centers (RSCs) /FOIA Offices all of which receive and respond to FOIA requests. The RSCs include the Administration for Children and Families (ACF); Administration for Community Living (ACL); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS); Food and Drug Administration (FDA); Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA); Indian Health Service (IHS); National Institutes of Health (NIH); Office of Inspector General (OIG);  Office of the Secretary (OS); Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH); and Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

Since October 1, 2016, initial FOIA requests for records in the custody of the Program Support Center (PSC), OASH, and AHRQ and FOIA appeals on behalf of the PSC, OASH, AHRQ, and the following Public Health Service agencies --  AHRQ, OASH, CDC, HRSA, IHS, NIH and SAMHSA -- have been processed by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs (ASPA) FOIA Division.

ASPA also responds to initial FOIA requests for records maintained by all OS StaffDivs with the exception of the Office of Inspector General (OIG); ensures consultation with the HHS Office of General Counsel (OGC), provides guidance on departmental appeal decisions, establishes Departmental FOIA policies; and monitors FOIA implementation throughout the Department, ensuring the HHS Secretary and the U.S. Attorney General are appropriately informed of the Department’s implementation of and compliance with the FOIA.

The following HHS OpDivs and StaffDivs provided information in response to the FOIA compliance and transparency sections of this report:

Operating Divisions

  • Administration for Children and Families (ACF)
  • Administration for Community Living (ACL)
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
  • Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
  • Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
  • Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
  • Indian Health Service (IHS)
  • National Institutes of Health (NIH)
  • Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH)
  • Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

Staff Divisions

  • Office of Inspector General (OIG)
  • Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs (ASPA)

Among Federal agencies which receive and process the most FOIA requests annually, HHS has consistently been among the top five or six. During Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, HHS received a total of 33,158 FOIA requests.  The number of FOIA requests submitted to each of the HHS OpDivs varied widely, ranging from a low of 48 to ACL to a high of 16,285 to CMS. The Department closed 32,952 FOIA requests in FY2021.

Currently, 273 HHS employees work full-time on FOIA needs and the equivalent of approximately 90 additional employees provide part-time assistance. This is a decrease of approximately 11 FTEs, compared to FY 2020 staffing levels.  These staffing numbers are generally computed from users in FOIA tracking software. As the average age of federal workers rises and increasingly larger numbers of federal employees are eligible for retirement, the Department is preparing for the impact of this demographic trend on the HHS FOIA community by implementing succession planning to maintain the necessary alignment of critical skills in the agency workforce, so that we may continue to serve the requester community in the best manner possible.

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