FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA)
ANNUAL REPORT 1998

I.    ADDRESS FOR PAPER COPIES OF REPORT:

FOIA Office, HRSA, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rm. 11-34, Rockville, MD 20857

II.    HOW TO MAKE A FOIA REQUEST: http://newsroom.hrsa.gov/efoia.htm

A. Names, addresses, telephone numbers of all individual agency components and offices that process FOIA requests:

Freedom of Information Officer, Officer of Communications, HRSA, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rm. 11-34, Rockville, MD 20857; (301) 443-2865

B. Brief description of agency’s response time range:

During the reporting period, the average response time per FOIA request was 28.5 calendar days.

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

Some requests were denied in accordance with the exemptions promulgated in 5 U.S.C. § 552 because the information was either commercially confidential, predecisional and deliberative, protected from release by a Federal Statute, or was a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.

III.    DEFINITIONS OF TERMS AND ACRONYMS USED IN REPORT:

Agency-specific acronyms or other terms:

HRSA = Health Resources and Services Administration

IV.    EXEMPTION 3 STATUTES:

A. List of Exemption 3 statutes relied on by the agency during report year:

42 U.S.C. 11137(b) Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986
42 U.S.C. 300aa-12(d)(4)(A) National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act

Brief description of type(s) of information withheld under each statute:

42 U.S.C. 11137(b) Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986 = physician information in the National Practitioner Data Bank.
42 U.S.C. 300aa-12(d)(4)(A) National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act = information submitted to a special master or court proceeding without the express consent of the person submitting the information.

V.    INITIAL FOIA/PA ACCESS REQUESTS:

A. Numbers of initial requests (line 1 + line 2 - line 3 = line 4):

1. Number of requests pending at close of preceding fiscal year: 32

2. Number of requests received during reporting fiscal year: 391

3. Number of requests processed during reporting fiscal year: 386

4. Number of requests pending at close of reporting fiscal year: 37

B. Disposition of Initial Requests:

1. Number granted in full: 216

2. Number granted in part: 150

3. Number of full and partial denials: 165

a. Number of times each FOIA exemption was used:

Exemption 1 = 0
Exemption 2 = 0
Exemption 3 = 2
Exemption 4 = 33
Exemption 5 = 21
Exemption 6 = 90
Exemption 7 = 1
Exemption 8 = 0
Exemption 9 = 0

4. Other reasons for non-disclosure:

a. No records = 30
b. Referrals = 5
c. Request withdrawn = 2
d. Fee-related reason = 3
e. Records not reasonably described = 4
f. Not a proper FOIA request for some other reason
g. Not an agency record
h. Duplicate request
i. Other (specify)

VI.    APPEALS OF INITIAL DENIALS OF FOIA/PA REQUESTS

A. Number of appeals:

1. Number of appeals received during the fiscal year = 7

2. Number of appeals processed during the fiscal year = 7

a. Number of times each FOIA exemption used:

Exemption 1
Exemption 2
Exemption 3
Exemption 4 = 4
Exemption 5 = 1
Exemption 6 = 5
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:

a. No records
b. Referrals
c. Request withdrawn
d. Fee-related reason = 1
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)

VII.    COMPLIANCE WITH TIME LIMITS/STATUS OF PENDING REQUESTS:

A. Median Processing Time of Requests Processed During the Year:

1. Requests:

a. Number of requests processed = 391
b. Median number of days to process = 15 calendar days

2. Requests Accorded Expedited Processing: 0

B. Status of Pending Requests:

1. Number of requests pending as of the end of the fiscal year covered in this report (from Line V.A.4): 37

2. Median number of days that such requests were pending as of that date: 15 calendar days

VIII.    COSTS/FOIA STAFFING:

A. Staffing levels:

1. Number of full-time FOIA personnel: 2

2. Number of personnel with part-time or occasional FOIA duties: One person at .8 work-years

3. Total number of personnel: 2.8 work-years

B. Total costs (including staff and all resources):

1. FOIA processing (including appeals) = $147,740

2. Litigation-related activities (estimated) = $680.00

3. Total costs = $148,420

X. FEES:

A. Total amount of fees collected by agency for processing requests: $4,481.20

B. Percentage of total costs: 3%