Wednesday, April 2, 2025
4/2/2025
BEHAVIORAL RISK FACTOR SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM: IMPACT ON POPULATION HEALTH - The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is a population health surveillance system that uses telephone interviews to gather information from a random sample of non-institutionalized English or Spanish-speaking adults in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and three territories. BRFSS collects information that helps the public health system better understand and address health status, health risk behaviors, and health disparities across geographies. BRFSS has been monitoring population health at the national and state levels since 1984. The State of Washington began implementing the survey in 1987, two years before the existence of DOH as we know it today. When DOH was created in 1989, it became the parent agency to conduct the state’s BRFSS. Overall, Washington State has partnered with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to provide 37 years of BRFSS data collection and analysis regarding the health of Washingtonians. BRFSS provides essential information to policy makers for protecting and improving health in Washington State. State and local government agencies rely on BRFSS to inform planning and priority-setting, to target prevention resources, and to evaluate programs. In Washington State, we have increased the size of the sample from 13,000 to 26,000 so that we can measure health conditions and risks at sub-state (county or metropolitan) levels, where many public health policies and prevention activities are carried out. This meets the demands of our local health jurisdictions and other partners that use the data at sub-state levels. In addition to assessing needs, the data is also used to inform the identification of health priorities, evaluate prevention efforts, and determine effectiveness and cost efficiencies - ultimately resulting in reduced health disparities, morbidity, and mortality. The WA BRFSS team works with the survey contractor ICF to construct and submit a state-specific annual questionnaire to be fielded in Washington State. As in prior years, the questionnaire will be built from the CDC core and selected optional modules, with the inclusion of state added questions (SAQs) identified as local priorities in the state. In addition, the WA BRFSS Team will work with the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) to develop a multi-year plan for survey content which will increase the efficiency of existing processes used to propose and prioritize Optional Modules and SAQs to be added to the questionnaire, while maintaining inclusivity, transparency, and fairness with partners. Agency leadership and local public health partners also consistently pursue additional funds to expand the sample and to fund directed oversampling to support data analysis for local health jurisdictions. In 2023 an oversample pilot attempted to reach a more representative pool of Black/African American and Asian American/Pacific Islander Washington residents. Lessons learned from this pilot are being applied going forward. Washington State Department of Health is a proud participant and leader in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. We look forward to continuing our program.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).