HealthData.gov HHS Open Data Scraper

HealthData.gov HHS Open Data Scraper

Scrape public health datasets from HealthData.gov by category, agency, or search term, up to a million per run. Each dataset row includes its title, description, publisher, update date, and direct download links. No API key required. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

HealthData.gov publishes thousands of open datasets from HHS agencies like the CDC, CMS, and FDA, but browsing the portal page by page is slow. This Actor reads the public catalog directly, filtering by category, tags, authority, or view type, and returns matching datasets in a flat, consistent schema. It handles pagination automatically so you can collect the full list in one run.

Who uses it	What they scrape HealthData.gov for
Public health analysts	Building a catalog of available datasets on a specific disease or condition for a literature review.
Data journalists	Finding recently updated federal health datasets to support an investigative story.
Healthtech product managers	Monitoring new CMS or FDA data releases that could feed into a product's risk models.
Academic researchers	Collecting NIH-funded study metadata for a systematic review or meta-analysis.

What it does

This Actor collects dataset listings from HealthData.gov by direct URL or search filters and returns each one as a flat row with metadata and download links.

• 🏛️ Agency filters: limit results to a specific HHS agency like CDC, CMS, FDA, NIH, or SAMHSA.
• 🔍 Search query: find datasets by keyword across titles and descriptions.
• 🏷️ Tag filtering: narrow results with comma-separated tags that match the portal's own tagging system.
• 📂 View type selection: restrict results to datasets, charts, maps, stories, or external datasets.
• ✅ Authority filter: choose between official HHS datasets and community-contributed entries.
• 📊 Sort options: order results by newest, most viewed, most relevant, recently updated, or alphabetically.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with HealthData.gov data

📈 Monitor new health data releases.

A health policy analyst runs the Actor weekly with sortBy set to 'newest' and category 'Health' to track the latest datasets published by HHS agencies.

🏥 Build an agency-specific data inventory.

A research coordinator filters by authority 'Official' and category 'CDC' to compile a complete list of CDC datasets for a data-sharing initiative.

📰 Find data for an investigative report.

A journalist searches for 'opioid' with view type 'Datasets' to locate federal data on the opioid crisis, then exports the results to CSV for analysis.

🧪 Gather study metadata for a systematic review.

An academic team uses a tag filter like 'clinical trials' and category 'NIH' to collect metadata on relevant studies, saving hours of manual portal browsing.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
No API registration	Reads the public catalog pages directly with no account or key.
Full metadata	Returns title, description, publisher, category, update date, and download links.
Flexible filtering	Combine agency, tags, view type, and authority to target exactly the datasets you need.
Scalable collection	Set a max items limit up to 1,000,000 and let pagination run unattended.

How it compares

No other Store actor targets HealthData.gov the same way, so the honest comparison is with the alternatives teams actually weigh.

	HealthData.gov HHS Open Data Scraper	Build it in-house	By hand
Setup	Run it now, zero config	Days of engineering	None, but hours per pull
When HealthData.gov changes	Maintained for you	You fix it	You re-learn the page
Proxies, retries, anti-bot	Built in	Your problem	Browser only
Output	Fixed JSON schema, CSV/Excel export	Whatever you build	Copy-paste
Cost	Pay per result	Engineering time	Analyst hours

Configure the run

Drive the Actor from a direct HealthData.gov URL or a combination of search query, category, tags, view type, and authority filters, and set a maximum number of datasets to collect. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
  "startUrl": "https://healthdata.gov/browse?sortBy=newest&page=1&pageSize=20",
  "maxItems": 10
}

A larger pull:

{
  "startUrl": "https://healthdata.gov/browse?sortBy=newest&page=1&pageSize=20",
  "maxItems": 200
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.054 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$5.40
1,000 results	$54.00
10,000 results	$540.00

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the HealthData.gov HHS Open Data Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to HealthData.gov through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/healthdata-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results?

Check that your search query or filters are not too restrictive. Try broadening the category or removing tags. Also confirm you are not using both startUrl and search filters at the same time, as they are mutually exclusive.

The Actor stopped before reaching my maxItems limit.

This usually means the portal returned all available results for your query. Try adjusting your filters or search term to find more datasets.

I'm getting an error when using a startUrl.

Make sure the URL is a valid HealthData.gov browse or search page. Avoid using URLs from other domains or pages that require authentication.

Some fields are empty in my results.

Not every dataset listing on HealthData.gov fills in all metadata fields. Empty fields mean the publisher did not provide that information.

The run is taking a long time.

Large maxItems values will take longer because the Actor must paginate through many pages. Reduce the maxItems limit or narrow your filters to speed up the run.

FAQ

Question	Answer
Do I need an API key or login to scrape HealthData.gov?	No. This Actor reads the public catalog pages directly, so no account, API key, or registration is required.
What data does each result row contain?	Each row includes the dataset title, description, publisher, category, tags, last update date, view type, and any available download or access links.
Can I filter by a specific HHS agency like the CDC or FDA?	Yes. Use the Category dropdown to select from agencies including CDC, CMS, FDA, NIH, HRSA, SAMHSA, and others.
How do I search for datasets by keyword?	Enter your term in the Search Query field. The Actor will match it against dataset titles and descriptions on the portal.
What is the difference between startUrl and the search filters?	They are mutually exclusive. Use startUrl to scrape a specific pre-built URL from HealthData.gov. Use the search filters to build a query from scratch with category, tags, and other options.
Can I limit results to only official HHS datasets?	Yes. Set the Authority filter to 'Official' to exclude community-contributed entries and return only datasets published by HHS agencies.
How many datasets can I collect in one run?	You can set the maximum up to 1,000,000 datasets. The Actor handles pagination automatically until it reaches your limit or the end of results.
What export formats are supported?	You can export your results to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML from the Apify dataset tab.
Does this Actor download the actual dataset files?	No. It collects the metadata and download links for each dataset listing. You can use those links to download the files separately.
Can I scrape datasets by tag?	Yes. Enter one or more tags as a comma-separated list in the Tags field to filter results to datasets that match those tags.

Related actors

Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.