Health Center Program awardees and look-alikes are required to report on a core set of measures each calendar year as defined in the Uniform Data System(UDS), a standardized reporting system. HRSA uses UDS data to assess the impact and performance of the Health Center Program, and to promote data-driven quality improvement. HRSA’s Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC) makes UDS data available, for free, to the public in an electronic format. This action is being taken pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552(a)(2)(D)) (FOIA).
Data accuracy
Data from the UDS are from annual reports submitted by grantee health centers and look-alikes, and do not represent scientific research conducted by the federal government.
In addition, some data fields, including those not used for agency functions may contain incorrect or incomplete data.
Unavailable data
Some data are withheld under Exemption 4 of the FOIA, 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4) for UDS measures that are considered proprietary in nature. This exemption protects against the release of proprietary confidential business and financial information, which, if disclosed, could provide potential competitors with an unfair advantage, including in future grant competitions.
UDS tables containing proprietary data are:
- Table 5: Staffing and Utilization
- Table 5: Selected Service Detail Addendum
- Table 8A: Financial Costs
- Table 9D: Patient-Related Revenue
A pre-disclosure notification process pursuant to 45 C.F.R. 5.42(a) was conducted annually with the grantee health centers and look-alikes asking if they consent to the release of their data in Tables 5, 8A, and 9D through FY 2022. The rows in these tables that contain data are from those responders that provided such consent. After FY 2022, consent to release these data is obtained at the time of collection.
Some data are withheld under Exemption 6 of the FOIA, 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(6) for UDS information that can be used to identify patients of the grantee health centers and look-alikes. The low level of geographic (zip code) and clinical (diagnoses, visits, and patients) data through the UDS annual data reporting protects patient confidentiality. Confidentiality is further protected by suppressing cell contents for values less than 16, and suppressing other cells that might be used to calculate suppressed counts.
Data integrity
Any alteration of the original data, including conversion to other media or other data formats, and any manipulation or reprocessing of the original data, is the sole responsibility of the user.
HRSA is not able to verify the accuracy of this data to the extent that it has been altered in any manner. HRSA/BPHC does not assist users with converting the data to another format.