Begun in 1984, the BRFSS is run by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and conducted by participating individual state health departments.
In 2009, the BRFSS began conducting surveys by cellular phone in addition to traditional “landline” telephones.
The BRFSS is a cross-sectional telephone survey conducted by state health departments with technical and methodological assistance provided by the CDC.
In addition to all 50 states, the BRFSS is also conducted by health departments in The District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The U.S. federal government can then compare states based on the core questions to allocate funding and focus interventions.