Domain Definition: Uncertain, limited, or unstable access to food that is: adequate in quantity and in nutritional quality; culturally acceptable; safe and acquired in socially acceptable ways.
Gravity Project social risk data elements are published in Value Set Authority Center (VSAC) value sets. The value sets can be identified by searching for "The Gravity Project" steward. You will need to create a free National Library of Medicine (NLM) account to access the value sets. Value sets will be updated bi-annually on June 30th and December 31st.
.
Food Insecurity Data Elements
Please reach out to the Gravity Project at Gravityproject@hl7.org with any questions.
| # | Description | Updated | Link Historical files retained to provide the history of the consensus process, do not use for implementation purposes. Please refer to VSAC value sets for diagnoses, goals, and interventions activities. Please refer to the Food Insecurity domain assessment instruments codes attachment provided in this link. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Historical Food Insecurity Master List | 05/14/21 | Click here to download the Historical Food Insecurity Master List. |
| 2 | Consensus voting comments and Dispositions Spreadsheet | 01/31/20 |
.
Adjudicated Data Element Submission StatisticsBelow is a list of how many of each food insecurity data element type has been adjudicated as of the date listed.#DateScreening Tool / QuestionsDiagnosis / NeedsGoalsInterventionsTOTAL110/17/1956 Tools / 203 Questions601314722029/12/1956 Tools / 191 Questions601214621838/29/1941 Tools / 126 Questions441110315848/15/1936 Tools / 95 Questions42910015158/1/1928 Tools / 71 Questions3898713467/18/199 Tools / 34 Questions2342855
.
Interventions Framework
This is an updated draft (31 August 2020) of the framework for intervention data element concepts. Thank you to everyone who submitted comments on the initial version! | ||
# | Gravity Term | Gravity Definition |
1 | Assistance/Assisting | To give support or aid to; help |
2 | Coordination | Process of organizing activities and sharing information to improve effectiveness. |
3 | Counseling | Psychosocial procedure that involves listening, reflecting, etc., to facilitate recognition of course of action/solution. |
4 | Education | Procedure that is synonymous with those activities such as teaching, demonstration, instruction, explanation, and advice that aim to increase knowledge and skills, change behaviors, assist coping and increase adherence to treatment. |
5 | Evaluation of eligibility (for <x>) | Process of determining eligibility by evaluating evidence. |
6 | Evaluation/Assessment | Determination of a value, conclusion, or inference by evaluating evidence. |
7 | Provision | To supply/make available for use. |
8 | Referral | The act of clinicians/providers sending or directing a patient to healthcare professionals and/or programs for services (e.g., evaluation, treatment, aid, information etc.) |
.
Screening Tools
# | Screening Tool | Description | Source(s) |
1 | AHC | The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) have made the Accountable Health Communities (AHC) Health-Related Social Needs (HRSN) Screening Tool to use in the AHC Model. This screening tool assesses 5 core domains:Housing instabilityFood insecurityTransportation problemsUtility help needsInterpersonal safety | |
2 | CommunityConnect | The CommunityConnect Social Needs Screening Tool was developed to capture social, medical, and behavioral health needs. The tool was designed to promote motivational interviewing, client engagement and rapport, allowing case managers from a range of disciplines to use the screening telephonically and in-field with patients. The screening consists of 42 questions and crosses 10 domains including: housing instability, food security, transportation, interpersonal safety, vision & dental, behavioral and social support, medical, finances, education and employment, and legal needs. | |
3 | FIES-SM | The Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) Survey Module (FIES-SM) consists of eight questions regarding people's access to adequate food, and can be easily integrated into various types of population surveys. | |
4 | Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) | HINTS collects data about the use of cancer-related information by the American public. These data provide opportunities to understand and improve health communication. | |
5 | Health Leads | The Health Leads Social Needs Screening Toolkit is a comprehensive blueprint for health systems seeking to identify and screen patients for adverse social determinants of health. | |
6 | HFIAS | Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) for Measurement of Food Access: Indicator Guide provides a simple and user-friendly approach for measuring the impacts of development food aid programs on the access component of household food insecurity. The guide includes a standardized questionnaire and data collection and analysis instructions. The HFIAS is composed of a set of nine questions that have been used in several countries and appear to distinguish food insecure from food secure households across different cultural contexts. The information generated by the HFIAS can be used to assess the prevalence of household food insecurity (access component) and to detect changes in the food insecurity situation of a population over time. | |
7 | Household Food Security Survey Module (HFSSM) | The HFSSM focuses on self-reports of uncertain, insufficient or inadequate food access, availability and utilization due to limited financial resources, and the compromised eating patterns and food consumption that may result. The HFSSM contains 18 questions about the food security situation in the household over the previous 12 months. Each question specifies a lack of money or the ability to afford food as the reason for the condition or behaviour. The questions range in severity from worrying about running out of food, to children not eating for a whole day.Note: This is a Canadian survey adapted from the US Food Security Measurement Method. | |
8 | Hunger Vital Sign | The Hunger Vital SignTM (HVS) is a validated 2-question food insecurity screening tool that allows clinicians to accurately identify households at risk of food insecurity and address patient needs appropriately. | |
9 | IHELP | IHELP is a tool for collecting pediatric social histories. It includes both household needs (financial strain, insurance, hunger, domestic violence, housing stability and housing conditions) and several child-specific domains (child educational needs, child legal status, and power of attorney/guardianship). | |
10 | Kaiser Permanente Your Current Life Situation (YCLS) | Kaiser Permanente's Your Current Life Situation (YCLS) survey was developed to capture a range of social and economic needs, including living situation, housing, food, utilities, childcare, debts, medical needs, transportation, stress, and social isolation. | |
11 | Kleinman | Dr. Arthur Kleinman determined that a person's own opinions and viewpoints can affect their health. This set of open-ended questions has been used to explore how and why individuals believe what they do about illnesses and treatments to support shared decision making. | |
12 | NC Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) | DHHS, in partnership with a diverse set of stakeholders from across the state, developed a standardized set of SDOH screening questions. | |
13 | NC Safe Environment for Every Kid (SEEK) | SEEK is an evidence-based, practical model for improving primary healthcare for children and their families. SEEK helps primary healthcare professionals (PCPs) address common psychosocial problems, such as parental depression and substance use. The SEEK Parent Questionnaire-R (PQ-R) screens for the targeted psychosocial problems. | |
14 | Medicare Total Health Assessment (THA) | The Medicare Total Health Assessment (MTHA) is a survey used to assess several things, including food insecurity, in the elderly. The survey is offered to Medicare Advantage members in advance of Annual Wellness Visits that are a CMS-mandated benefit offering. | |
15 | PRAPARE | The Protocol for Responding to and Assessing Patients’ Assets, Risks, and Experiences (PRAPARE) is a national effort to help health centers and other providers collect the data needed to better understand and act on their patients’ social determinants of health. | |
16 | SWYC | The Survey of Well-being of Young Children (SWYC)™ is a freely-available, comprehensive screening instrument for children under 5 years of age. | |
17 | US Household Food Security 6 Item | Six-Item Short Form of the Food Security Survey ModuleFor surveys that cannot implement the 18-item or 10-item measures, this "Short Form" 6-item scale provides a reasonably reliable substitute. It uses a subset of the standard 18 items. This is the same six-item questionnaire that is in the Guide. | |
18 | US Household Food Security 10 Item | U.S. Adult Food Security Survey Module(10 items) Three-stage design with screeners. Screening keeps respondent burden to the minimum needed to get reliable data. Most households in a general population survey are asked only three questions. The questionnaire has been modified very slightly from that specified for households without children in the Guide. | |
19 | US Household Food Security 18 Item | U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module(18-items) Three-stage design with screeners. Screening keeps respondent burden to the minimum needed to get reliable data. Most households in a general population survey are asked only three questions (five if there are children in the household). The questionnaire has been modified slightly from that in the Guide, and the questions have been re-ordered to group the child-referenced questions after the adult-referenced questions. | |
20 | We Care | WE CARE (Well Child Care, Evaluation, Community Resources, Advocacy, Referral, Education) is a clinic-based screening and referral system developed for pediatric settings. The 12-question WE CARE screening tool assesses needs in 6 domains: parental educational attainment, employment, child care, risk of homelessness, food security, and household heat and electricity. |
.
Terminology, Definitions and Resources
# | Term | Defintion or Description | Source(s) |
1 | Food access | There are many ways to measure food store access for individuals and for neighborhoods, and many ways to define which areas are food deserts—neighborhoods that lack healthy food sources. Most measures and definitions take into account at least some of the following indicators of access:Accessibility to sources of healthy food, as measured by distance to a store or by the number of stores in an area.Individual-level resources that may affect accessibility, such as family income or vehicle availability.Neighborhood-level indicators of resources, such as the average income of the neighborhood and the availability of public transportation. | |
2 | Food desert | The Food Access Research Atlas maps census tracts that are both low income (li) and low access (la), as measured by the different distance demarcations. This tool provides researchers and other users multiple ways to understand the characteristics that can contribute to food deserts, including income level, distance to supermarkets, and vehicle access. | |
3 | Food security | Access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life. | |
4 | Food security range: high food security | No reported indications of food-access problems or limitations. | |
5 | Food security range: marginal food security | One or two reported indications—typically of anxiety over food sufficiency or shortage of food in the house. Little or no indication of changes in diets or food intake. | |
6 | Food insecurity | Limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways. | Bickel G, Nord M, Price C, Hamilton W, Cook J. Guide To Measuring Household Food Security, Revised 2000. Alexandria, VA: US Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service; 2000. |
7 | Food insecurity range: low food security | Reports of reduced quality, variety, or desirability of diet. Little or no indication of reduced food intake. | |
8 | Food insecurity range: very low food security | Reports of multiple indications of disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake. | |
9 | Hunger | Term should refer to a potential consequence of food insecurity that, because of prolonged, involuntary lack of food, results in discomfort, illness, weakness, or pain that goes beyond the usual uneasy sensation. |
.
Data Element Concept Leads
# | Role | Name | Organization |
1 | Clinical Informatics Director | Sarah DeSilvey | Pediatric Faculty, Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont |
2 | Technical Director | Lisa Nelson | MaxMD |
3 | Coding Subject Matter Expert | Linda Hyde | EMI Advisors, LLC |
4 | Food Insecurity Subject Matter Expert | Donna Pertel | Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics |