2024 Chief FOIA Officer Report - Section 3

The Attorney General’s 2022 FOIA Guidelines emphasize that “proactive disclosure of information is . . . fundamental to the faithful application of the FOIA.”  The Guidelines direct agencies to post “records online quickly and systematically in advance of any public request” and reiterate that agencies should post records “in the most useful, searchable, and open formats possible.”

1. Please describe what steps your agency takes to identify, track, and post (a)(2) proactive disclosures. 

HHS FOIA Offices work with program offices to identify final opinions, agency policy statements, and administrative staff manuals that are required to be made available for public inspection.  HHS FOIA Offices also work with program offices and review their FOIA tracking systems to identify records that have become or are likely to become the subject of subsequent FOIA requests.  Once these types of records are identified, HHS FOIA Offices work with digital communications specialists to ensure that these records are posted to agency websites.

Other steps taken to identify, track, and post (a)(2) proactive disclosures included HRSA FOIA’s use of a Find Similar Requests tool in its FOIA tracking System.  This tool provided HRSA FOIA with an efficient method to determine whether the same records have been requested three or more times and qualifies as a frequently requested record.

2. How long after identifying a record for proactive disclosure does it take your agency to post it?

HHS generally posts a record for proactive disclosure within one to two weeks following identification.

3. Does your agency post logs of its FOIA requests? 

• If so, what information is contained in the logs? 
• Are they posted in CSV format?  If not, what format are they posted in?

Some HHS RSCs post logs of their FOIA requests to their electronic reading rooms.  This includes CDC, CMS, FDA, and NIH.  HRSA has worked with its case management contractor to develop FOIA logs that can be extracted from its case management system and posted to its electronic reading room. HRSA and OS FOIA plans to start posting FOIA logs in 2024 on a quarterly basis.  The remaining HHS RSCs provide FOIA logs when requested through the routine FOIA process.

Information and Format:

• CDC FOIA posts logs in Excel format and includes the following information in the log: requester name and organization, date of request, request description, and request ID.
• CMS FOIA posts logs in PDF format and includes the following information in the log: the document ID, original date of release, the subject or description of the document, public status of the request, request category, and organization of the requester.
• FDA FOIA posts logs in Excel format and includes the following information in the log: control number, date received, requester organization name, and subject of the request.
• NIH FOIA posts logs in Excel and PDF format and includes the following information in the log: case number, requester’s organization name, request description, and date received.
• HRSA and OS FOIA plans to post logs in PDF format and include the following information in the log: request number, date submitted, summary of the request, and disposition of the request.   

4. Provide examples of any material that your agency has proactively disclosed during the past reporting year, including records that have been requested and released three or more times in accordance with 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(2)(D).  Please include links to these materials as well.

ACF:

• Fact sheets and data about Unaccompanied Children:
  https://www.acf.hhs.gov/orr/about/ucs/facts-and-data

CDC:

• V-safe COVID-19 Data:
  https://data.cdc.gov/Public-Health-Surveillance/v-safe-COVID-19/dqgu-gg5d
• COVID-19 Vaccination Dashboard:
  https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/imz-managers/coverage/covidvaxview/interactive/vaccination-dashboard.html

CMS has made available Medicare Cost Report data; Medicaid CHIP applications, enrollment, and eligibility data; Nursing Home Provider Data; and Medicaid Unwinding data releases.  For the first time, CMS released full Change of Ownership (CHOW) data for hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, hospice, rural health clinics, and Federally Qualified Health Centers.

FDA:

• Compliance Letters - https://www.fda.gov/inspections-compliance-enforcement-and-criminal-investigations/compliance-actions-and-activities/warning-letters
• Medical Device Adverse Events - https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfmaude/search.cfm
• Inspections Database - https://datadashboard.fda.gov/ora/cd/inspections.htm
• FAERS Dashboard (human drug adverse events) - https://www.fda.gov/drugs/questions-and-answers-fdas-adverse-event-reporting-system-faers/fda-adverse-event-reporting-system-faers-public-dashboard
• COVID-19 Records - https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/freedom-information/electronic-reading-room
• Infant Formula Records - https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/freedom-information/electronic-reading-room

HRSA:

• HRSA Reading Room:  https://www.hrsa.gov/foia/electronic-reading.html
• Health Center Data and Reporting:  https://bphc.hrsa.gov/data-reporting
• 2022 UDS Data: https://www.hrsa.gov/sites/default/files/hrsa/foia/h80-2022.xlsx; https://www.hrsa.gov/sites/default/files/hrsa/foia/lal-2022.xlsx      
• HRSA Data Warehouse: https://data.hrsa.gov/
• Office of Pharmacy Affairs 340B Database: https://340bopais.hrsa.gov/   
• National Practitioner Data Bank: https://www.npdb.hrsa.gov/ 
• Responses to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) requests for information seeking input on ways to strengthen and improve OPTN through Fiscal Year 2023: https://www.hrsa.gov/foia/electronic-reading.html
• Records involving OPTN’s Industry Days: https://www.hrsa.gov/foia/electronic-reading.html

IHS:

• Complete listing of IHS Healthcare Facilities:
  https://www.ihs.gov/sites/locations/themes/responsive2017/display_objects/documents/ihs_facilities.xlsx

NIH:

The Office of the Director regularly updates proactive disclosures in the NIH FOIA Library, found here:

https://www.nih.gov/institutes-nih/nih-office-director/office-communications-public-liaison/freedom-information-act-office/nih-foia-library

ORS News2Use newsletter provides a lot of useful information about the services provided by the Office of Research Services and the newsletter is publicly available on the following website: https://news2use.ors.nih.gov/Pages/default.aspx.  It is published quarterly.

Other NIH Institutes and Centers proactively posted a large volume of records in 2023.  A sampling of those records is listed below, organized by center and institute:

Center for Scientific Review:

• Review Matters Blog: https://www.csr.nih.gov/reviewmatters/
• CSR Advisory Council Information (Agenda, minutes, video, roster etc.): https://public.csr.nih.gov/AboutCSR/Organization/CSRAdvisoryCouncil
• Study section information, rosters, and meetings dates: https://public.csr.nih.gov/StudySections  https://public.csr.nih.gov/RevPanelsAndDates 
• CSR news and Policy:  https://public.csr.nih.gov/NewsAndPolicy 
• Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/CSRpeerreview
• Review Matters blog: https://www.csr.nih.gov/reviewmatters/

Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives/Office of Research Infrastructure Programs:

• Twitter/X feed at homepage: https://orip.nih.gov/
• Highlighting Progress Relative to ORIP’s Strategic Plan: https://orip.nih.gov/strategic-plan/orip-theme-i/highlighting-progress-archives  

Fogarty International Center:

• News and feature articles about Fogarty’s programs and grantee successes, scientific publications etc.: https://www.fic.nih.gov/News/Pages/News.aspx
• Weekly funding newsletter including items of interest to global health researchers: http://www.fic.nih.gov/Funding/News/ 
• Commentary and publications by Fogarty Director: http://www.fic.nih.gov/About/Pages/director.aspx 
• Newly funded grants and awards: http://www.fic.nih.gov/Grants/Search/Pages/search-grants.aspx 

National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences:

• Annual reports, which can be found on the right rail and bottom at https://ncats.nih.gov/about/center
• Translational Science Education and Training: https://ncats.nih.gov/training-education
• Funded activities under the NCATS Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program: https://ncats.nih.gov/files/ctsa-funding-information.pdf
• NCATS Strategic Plan: https://ncats.nih.gov/strategicplan
• NCATS Toolkit for Patient-Focused Therapy Development: https://ncats.nih.gov/toolkit
• E-Newsletter: https://ncats.nih.gov/enews
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ncats.nih.gov
• Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/ncats_nih_gov
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/national-center-for-advancing-translational-science-ncats
• YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/user/ncatsmedia

National Institute on Aging:

• Budgets and testimony: https://www.nia.nih.gov/about/budget
• Inside NIA Blog: https://www.nia.nih.gov/research/blog
• Payline information and policies: https://www.nia.nih.gov/research/grants-funding/nia-specific-funding-policies

National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering:

• NIBIB-funded science highlights: http://www.nibib.nih.gov/news-events/newsroom
• Funding opportunities: http://www.nibib.nih.gov/research-funding#quicktabs-funding_tabs=1
• National Advisory Council for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering meeting agendas and meeting minutes: http://www.nibib.nih.gov/about-nibib/advisory-council
• NIBIB Congressional Justification: http://www.nibib.nih.gov/about-nibib/budget

National Institute on Drug Abuse:

• The NIDA Data Share web site (https://datashare.nida.nih.gov/

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences:

• Databases & Searches - NTP makes several databases and online searches available at no cost. See http://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/results/dbsearch/index.html
• NTP Monographs - NTP conducts literature-based evaluations that assess evidence on substances in our environment that may cause adverse health effects. See https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/pubhealth/hat/index.html

National Institute of Mental Health:

• NIMH Clinical Trials Funding Opportunity Announcements: https://www.nimh.nih.gov/funding/opportunities-announcements/clinical-trials-foas/index.shtml
• Funding Opportunities: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/funding/index.shtml

National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities:

• Director’s Corner - Director’s Corner -  http://nimhd.nih.gov/about/directors-corner/index.html
• NIMHD Staff Directory - https://www.nimhd.nih.gov/about/overview/staff-directory.html 
• Extramural Research Programs - https://www.nimhd.nih.gov/programs/extramural 
• NIMHD Research Framework - https://nimhd.nih.gov/about/overview/research-framework.html
• NIMHD funding opportunities - https://nimhd.nih.gov/funding/nimhd-funding/ 
• Intramural Research Programs - https://www.nimhd.nih.gov/programs/intramural/ 
• NIMHD Publications - https://www.nimhd.nih.gov/about/publications/ 

OIG:

• Agency Reports and Publications: https://oig.hhs.gov/reports-and-publications/index.asp

OS FOIA:

OS published over 750 guidance documents to the HHS Guidance Portal during the relevant reporting period (https://www.hhs.gov/guidance/).  The Guidance Portal helps to ensure that the public receives appropriate notice of new HHS guidance.  OS also posted data, including several datasets related to COVID-19, to Healthdata.gov.

Additionally, OS FOIA continued to post frequently requested records to the Electronic FOIA Reading Room (https://www.hhs.gov/foia/electronic-reading-room/index.html). Records posted to the Electronic FOIA Reading Room include a signed letter from the Assistant Secretary for Health to the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration regarding the rescheduling of marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act and copies of signed affidavits retroactively ratifying and adopting the appointment of members of the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force.

5. Beyond posting new material, is your agency taking steps to make the posted information more useful to the public, especially to the community of individuals who regularly access your agency’s website?

Yes

6. If yes, please provide examples of such improvements.  In particular, please describe steps your agency is taking to post information in open, machine-readable, and machine-actionable formats, to the extent feasible.  If not posting in open formats, please explain why and note any challenges.

OS FOIA continued to provide high value health data in an accessible manner to the public through HealthData.gov.  Data is provided on the website in open formats that makes it more accessible to entrepreneurs, researchers, and policy makers in the hopes that the data can be used to better health outcomes for the public.

CMS, where possible, made data available in CSV format to condense the size of data files, which increases speed of download and transmission.

NIH continued to use the RePORT Expenditures and Results (RePORTER) module to provide the public with an electronic tool that allows users to easily search a repository of NIH-funded research projects and access publications and patents resulting from NIH funding (https://reporter.nih.gov/).

OIG used customer feedback, web analytics and regular updates to improve the information on its website.  In addition, all information on the OIG website is easily searchable.

7. Does your proactive disclosure process or system involve any collaboration with agency staff outside the FOIA office, such as IT or data personnel?  If so, describe this interaction.

HHS FOIA Offices recognize that proactive disclosure of information is fundamental to the faithful application of the Act.  To support that goal, HHS FOIA Offices work with program offices and IT staff to identify (a)(2) records and other records sets that are most useful to the public make those records available in a manner that is accessible to all members of the public as soon as possible.  HHS FOIA Offices also work with agency communications offices, which monitor correspondence from the public and other outside stakeholders, to gain an understanding of which topics are of greatest interest.  In addition, HHS FOIA Offices work with public affairs offices to promote the release of new records.

8. Optional -- Please describe the best practices used to improve proactive disclosures and any challenges your agency faces in this area.

• Introduction: Agency Chief Freedom of Information Act Officer
• Section I: FOIA Leadership and Applying the Presumption of Openness
• Section II: Ensuring Fair and Effective FOIA Administration
• Section III: Proactive Disclosures
• Section IV: Steps Taken to Greater Utilize Technology
• Section V: Steps Taken to Remove Barriers to Access, Improve Timeliness in Responding to Requests, and Reduce Backlogs