Section III: Proactive Disclosures

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.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) continued to prioritize proactive disclosures as a key component of its FOIA administration strategy. Consistent with the FOIA statute (5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(2)) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) FOIA Guidelines, HHS remains committed to making information available to the public without the need for a FOIA request whenever possible.

Operating in an environment marked by historically high request volume and sustained litigation activity, HHS recognizes that proactive disclosure serves both transparency and operational objectives. The Department continued to post frequently requested records and high-interest materials to its FOIA libraries, including records related to regulatory actions, public health initiatives, and Departmental policy matters. These efforts support DOJ’s emphasis on the presumption of openness and the proactive release of information that is likely to be of public interest.

Proactive disclosure also serves as a workload management strategy. By identifying and posting records that are the subject of recurring requests, HHS reduces duplicative processing, preserves limited FOIA resources, and improves overall efficiency. In the current environment, where approximately 200 FOIA requests were involved in active litigation during the reporting period, proactive posting of high-interest materials helps mitigate the risk of repeat requests and demonstrates the Department’s good-faith efforts to provide timely access to information.

To strengthen its proactive disclosure program, HHS continues to encourage Operating Divisions to evaluate records released multiple times for inclusion in their FOIA libraries and to improve the timeliness and accessibility of posted materials. The Department is also exploring data-driven approaches to better identify categories of records that are likely to generate repeated requests.

Through these efforts, HHS advances the principles of transparency, accountability, and fairness in FOIA administration, while also supporting more efficient processing and backlog reduction across the Department.

To maximize the impact of proactive disclosures in 2026, HHS will prioritize:

  • Expanding identification of frequently requested records through data analysis.
  • Standardizing proactive disclosure practices across Operating Divisions.
  • Improving timeliness of posting after release.
  • Enhancing FOIA library searchability and usability.

2. 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?
  • Please provide a link to the page where any FOIA logs are posted. If applicable, please provide component links.

Some HHS RSCs post logs of their FOIA requests to their electronic reading rooms. This includes CMS, FDA, HRSA, IHS, and NIH. OS FOIA has posted its FOIA logs for FY ‘18 through FY ’23 and plans to post FOIA logs for the most recent fiscal years in 2026. The remaining HHS RSCs provide FOIA logs when requested through the routine FOIA process.

Information and Format:

  • OS 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. View OS FOIA logs.
  • 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. View CMS FOIA logs.
  • 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. View FDA FOIA logs.
  • HRSA FOIA posts logs in Excel format and includes the following information in the log: the FOIA tracking number, date received, date closed (if applicable), subject of the request (redacted as necessary), and the release type. View HRSA FOIA logs.
  • IHS FOIA posts logs in Excel format and includes the following information in the log: case number, request date, received date, perfected date, intake type, status, fee category, requester name, requestor organization, short description, processing track, closed date, disposition and granted. View IHS FOIA logs.
  • 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. View NIH FOIA logs.

3. Provide examples of any material (with links) 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).

HHS empowers the public with information on contaminants in foods, terminated HHS contracts and potential conflicts of interest on committees. Information on these initiatives can be found on the Department’s radical transparency page. The Department also posted datasets to Healthdata.gov to ensure Americans know what information is housed by HHS and how their data are responsibly stewarded, safeguarded, and managed by HHS Divisions.

OS published over 600 guidance documents to the HHS Guidance Portal during the relevant reporting period. The Guidance Portal helps to ensure that the public receives appropriate notice of new HHS guidance. Other relevant examples include:

CMS:

FDA:

HRSA:

  • HRSA Reading Room
  • Below is a description of the types of records posted in HRSA’s electronic reading room:
    • Provider Relief Fund (PRF) & United Healthcare Services Contract Records
    • Redacted FOIA Logs (FY24; FY25 Q1-Q3)
    • Uniformed Data System (UDS) datasets

IHS:

NIH:

NIH has been proactively posting email records of a former senior agency official executed via commercial email, in addition to proactive posting of many of the requested COVID-19-related records. They are posted at the NIH FOIA Library and PAL Reading Room.

In addition, the following items are also posted publicly. (Note that these websites are in the process of change and may no longer be available)

ORS News2Use newsletter provides a lot of useful information and is publicly available on our website. It is published quarterly.

Other NIH Institutes and Centers proactively posted a large volume of records in 2024. A sampling of those records is listed below, organized by center and institute:

Center for Scientific Review:

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

Fogarty International Center:

National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences:

National Institute on Aging:

National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering:

National Institute on Drug Abuse:

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences:

  • Databases & Searches - NTP makes several databases and online searches available at no cost.
  • NTP Monographs - NTP conducts literature-based evaluations that assess evidence on substances in our environment that may cause adverse health effects.

National Institute of Mental Health:

National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities:

OIG:

4. Please provide a link (or component links, if applicable) where your agency routinely posts its frequently requested records.

HHS routinely posts frequently requested records on Operating Division or Staff Division FOIA webpages. HHS FOIA Reading Rooms can be accessed using the following links:

The ARPA-H FOIA Reading Room is currently under construction and SAMHSA FOIA is working to relaunch its FOIA Reading Room. Find more information about the ARPA-H FOIA program at and the SAMHSA FOIA program.

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? If yes, please provide examples of such improvements, such as steps taken to post information in open and machine readable formats. If not taking steps to make posted information more useful, please explain why.

HHS has taken steps to make posted information more useful to the public. For example:

OS 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, makes data available in .csv format to condense the size of data files, which increases speed of download and transmission.

HRSA improved the usefulness and reliability of posted FOIA information by strengthening its publication processes. In 2025, the FOIA Office coordinated directly with communications staff and the team that managed the OIT JIRA tickets to ensure accurate and complete posting of proactively disclosed materials, including correcting missing attachments and confirming successful publication of redacted FOIA logs and historical UDS datasets. While the agency did not implement machine‑readable or open‑format initiatives during this period, HRSA focused on improving the accessibility, accuracy, and consistency of posted information to better serve frequent public users of its FOIA website.

6. 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 and 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.

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

HHS FOIA Offices are encouraged to review their FOIA logs and case management systems and to work with program offices and IT staff to identify and post frequently requested records. However, because a significant number of HHS FOIA resources are dedicated to processing initial requests, appeals, and litigations, HHS FOIA Offices often lack the time or resources needed to identify, review, and post records that are likely to become the subject of subsequent requests.

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