BackgroundThe Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) provides access to unreleased government records that can be used to enhance the transparency and integrity of biomedical research. We characterized FOIA requests to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) agencies, including request outcomes, processing times, backlogs, and costs.MethodsUsing HHS FOIA annual reports, we extracted data on the number of FOIA requests received and processed by HHS agencies between 2008 and 2017, as well as request outcomes. Processing times were reported in three time increments, < 1–20, 21–60, or 61+ days, and trends in backlog status were also described. Information about costs and fees collected were aggregated.ResultsBetween 2008 and 2017, 69.6% of 530,094 HHS FOIA requests were received by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), 18.9% by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and 11.6% by all other HHS agencies. During this period, CMS processed 374,728 requests, FDA 114,938, and other HHS agencies 61,890. CMS and FDA reduced backlogged requests by 9396 (89.7%) and 4289 (65.3%), respectively, leaving backlogs of 1081 and 2279 requests at the end of 2017. CMS fully or partially granted 60.3% of requests whereas FDA fully or partially granted 72.4%. Of all requests to CMS, 82.0% were considered simple and 18.0% complex; 82.2% of simple requests and 54.9% of complex requests were processed in 20 days, and 5.6% and 29.9% were processed in 61+ days. In contrast, 60.2% of requests to FDA were considered simple and 39.8% complex; 28.8% of simple requests and 9.0% of complex requests were processed in 20 days, and 58.3% and 81.5% were processed in 61+ days. The costs to HHS associated with FOIA requests totaled $446.4 million ($809 per processed request), increasing from $28.1 million ($423 per request) in 2008 to $53.3 million ($1544 per request) in 2017. In total, HHS collected $8.5 million in fees (1.9% of total costs).ConclusionsFOIA is frequently used to obtain information about HHS and its agencies. With growing costs, minimal fees collected, and lengthy processing times, HHS agencies’ FOIA programs might be made more efficient through greater proactive record disclosure.

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2008 年至 2017 年向卫生与公众服务部提出的《信息自由法》要求的系统概述

背景信息自由法案 (FOIA) 提供了对未公布的政府记录的访问权限，这些记录可用于提高生物医学研究的透明度和完整性。我们描述了向卫生与公众服务部 (HHS) 机构提出的 FOIA 请求，包括请求结果、处理时间、积压和成本。方法使用 HHS FOIA 年度报告，我们提取了 HHS 机构收到和处理的 FOIA 请求数量的数据。 2008 年和 2017 年，以及请求结果。处理时间以三个时间增量报告，< 1-20、21-60 或 61+ 天，并且还描述了积压状态的趋势。汇总了有关收集的成本和费用的信息。结果在 2008 年和 2017 年之间，医疗保险和医疗补助服务中心 (CMS) 收到了 530,094 份 HHS FOIA 请求中的 69.6%，18。美国食品药品监督管理局 (FDA) 为 9%，所有其他 HHS 机构为 11.6%。在此期间，CMS 处理了 374,728 项请求，FDA 114,938 项，其他 HHS 机构 61,890 项。CMS 和 FDA 分别将积压的申请减少了 9396 件（89.7%）和 4289 件（65.3%），截至 2017 年底，积压的申请分别为 1081 件和 2279 件。CMS 全部​​或部分批准了 60.3% 的申请，而 FDA 全部或部分批准了 72.4 %。在对 CMS 的所有请求中，82.0% 被认为是简单的，18.0% 被认为是复杂的；82.2% 的简单请求和 54.9% 的复杂请求在 20 天内处理完毕，5.6% 和 29.9% 的处理时间为 61 天以上。相比之下，向 FDA 提出的请求中有 60.2% 被认为是简单的，而 39.8% 被认为是复杂的；28.8% 的简单请求和 9.0% 的复杂请求在 20 天内处理完毕，58.3% 和 81.5% 的处理时间为 61 天以上。HHS 与 FOIA 请求相关的成本总计 4.464 亿美元（每个处理请求 809 美元），从 2008 年的 2810 万美元（每个请求 423 美元）增加到 2017 年的 5330 万美元（每个请求 1544 美元）。HHS 总共收取了 850 万美元的费用（总成本的 1.9%）。结论 FOIA 经常用于获取有关 HHS 及其机构的信息。随着成本的增加、收取的最低费用和冗长的处理时间，HHS 机构的 FOIA 计划可能会通过更积极主动的记录披露来提高效率。