Country: United States
Survey Organization: SSRS
Field Dates: May 16, 2019—September 30, 2019
Sample: 694 executive directors or clinical directors at Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs)
Interview Method: A 12-page questionnaire
Methodology: The Commonwealth Fund 2018 National Survey of Federally Qualified Health Centers was conducted by SSRS from May 16, 2018, through September 30, 2018, among a nationally representative sample of 694 executive directors or clinical directors at Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs). The survey sample was drawn from the Uniformed Data System (UDS) list of all FQHCs in 2016 that have at least one site that is a community-based primary care clinic. The list was provided by the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC). All 1,367 FQHCs were sent the questionnaire and 694 responded, yielding a response rate of 51 percent. The survey consisted of a 12-page questionnaire that took approximately 20 to 25 minutes to complete. Data were weighted by number of patients, number of sites, geographic region, and urban/rural location to reflect the universe of primary care community centers as accurately as possible. Expansion status was determined using the FQHC-reported largest site address. If the largest site address was not provided, and the FQHC had only one site, we used UDS data to determine the site’s state. We excluded 21 responses because we were unable to determine their largest site through one of these methods, yielding a total sample of 673 responses. We used chi-square tests to assess differences between health centers in expansion states and those in nonexpansion states.
