Freedom of Information Activities

Annual Report, Fiscal Year 2003

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Agency: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

Report Prepared By: Nancy Comfort

Title: Freedom of Information Officer

Address: 540 Gaither Road Rockville, MD 20850

Phone number: (301) 427-1866

Electronic Address for Report on the World Wide Web: www.ahrq.gov/news/foiafy03.htm

Address for Paper Copies of Report:

Nancy Comfort
Freedom of Information Officer
Office of Communications and Knowledge Transfer
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
540 Gaither Road, Room 2222
Rockville, MD 20850

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How To Make a FOIA Request: 

Go to http://www.ahrq.gov/foia/instruct.htm. 

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): 

Response time ranges from 1 day to 78 days. 

C.  Brief description of why some requests are not granted:

Requests are not granted if the information requested falls within one of the statute's enumerated 
exemptions, the information requested falls under the jurisdiction of another HHS component, or 
if no documents exist which are responsive to the request.

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):

HHS Web site: http://www.hhs.gov/foia/  

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:  6
2.  Number of requests received during reporting fiscal year:     53
3.  Number of requests processed during reporting fiscal year:    50
4.  Number of requests pending at close of reporting fiscal year:  9 
    (Enter this number also as Line VII.B.1.)

B.  Disposition of Initial Requests:

1.  Number granted in full             27
2.  Number granted in part              1
3.  Number of full denials              0

a.  Number of times each FOIA exemption was used:
Exemption 1    0
Exemption 2    0
Exemption 3    0
Exemption 4    1
Exemption 5    0
Exemption 6    0
Exemption 7    0
Exemption 7(A)
Exemption 7(B)
Exemption 7(C)
Exemption 7(D)
Exemption 7(E)
Exemption 7(F)
Exemption 8    0
Exemption 9    0

4.  Other reasons for non-disclosure (total)
a.  no records                                        5
b.  referrals                                         4
c.  request withdrawn                                 9
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  N/A
2.  Number of appeals processed during the fiscal year N/A

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 1
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):  Multiple tracks are not used.
a.  number of requests processed        50
b.  median number of days to process    30

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      N/A
b.  median number of days to process  N/A

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)                                9
2.  Median number of days that such requests were pending as of that date  60

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)     $50,810.00
2.  Litigation-related activities (estimated)        0
3.  Total costs                             $50,810.00
4.  Comparison with previous year(s) (including percentage of change) (optional)

Fees

A.  Total amount of fees collected by agency for processing requests:  $583.00
B.  Percentage of total costs:  0

FOIA Regulations (including fee schedule) 

See 45 C.F.R. Part 5 or http://www.hhs.gov/foia/45cfr5.html 

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Internet Citation:

Freedom of Information Activities: Annual Report, Fiscal Year 2003. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/foia/foiafy03.htm

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