National prevalence of social risk factors at Federally Qualified Health Centers

Health care professionals and organizations increasingly screen for patients’ self-reported social risk factors (ie, specific adverse social conditions that negatively affect health). Federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) deliver comprehensive primary care services to 30 million individuals with low income nationwide, irrespective of ability to pay. While recent studies show that 70% of US FQHCs collect social risk factor data, to our knowledge, there are no national studies of positive social risk factor screening rates at FQHCs. In 2022, for the first time, data were collected from all US FQHCs that captured positive screening rates for 4 important social risk factors: food insecurity, housing insecurity, lack of transportation, and financial strain. The objectives of this study were to estimate positive screening rates for these social risk factors and assess FQHC-level characteristics associated with higher positive screening rates.