CenteringPregnancy
Local governments can invest in this strategy using State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).
- This strategy can help promote healthy childhood environments. The U.S. Department of Treasury has indicated that strategies that help achieve this outcome are eligible for the use of Fiscal Recovery Funds.
- Investments in this strategy are SLFRF-eligible as long as they are made in qualified census tracts or are designed to assist populations or communities disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.
Program overview
Supporting mothers during pregnancy: Developed by the Centering Healthcare Institute, CenteringPregnancy is an intensive, cohort-based model for prenatal care. By providing additional support to mothers during their pregnancies, CenteringPregnancy may improve prenatal care and birth outcomes.
Offering extended time with providers: The CenteringPregnancy model may be implemented at existing medical practices or healthcare systems. As part of the model, 8 to 10 women with similar due dates are grouped and scheduled for concurrent prenatal visits. The model calls for 10 prenatal visits, with each visit lasting between 90 minutes and 2 hours in length.
Building knowledge and skills: After completing their wellness visits, the mothers “circle up” with their providers and support staff. The staff facilitates discussions and activities that address important health topics and any questions raised by the mothers. Common topics include nutrition, stress management, breastfeeding, infant care, and more.
Creating long-term relationships: By using a cohort model, CenteringPregnancy aims to build a sense of community among participants. If the practice or healthcare system offers it, mothers often continue onto well-child programs, which focus on preventative care for children, after completing CenteringPregnancy.
- Cost per Participant
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$500 annually
Multiple studies with rigorous designs demonstrate that CenteringPregnancy is a well-supported strategy for improving prenatal care and birth outcomes.
- This assessment is based on evidence from a 2016 systematic review.
Create a referral system: The CenteringPregnancy model aims to create cohorts of women from a range of ages, races, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Depending on the demographics served by the implementing practice or healthcare system, intentional outreach may be required to achieve this diversity. For instance, a smaller practice may need to establish relationships with other community organizations (e.g., a social service agency) to identify diverse cohorts.
Access implementation assistance: Centering Healthcare, which developed the CenteringPregnancy model, provides clinics and healthcare systems with implementation support services. These include training for staff, quality assurance, and other tools and materials to support effective practice management and fidelity to the model.
Identify allied programs: Achieving positive prenatal and birth outcomes requires taking a holistic approach to the wellbeing of the mother and her child. As such, sites implementing the CenteringPregnancy model should establish relationships with internal and external programs that support pregnant mothers (e.g., patient navigator services or social service agencies). Such relationships allow program staff to seamlessly connect mothers with services that meet their other needs, such as access to food, housing, transportation, and more.
Provide access to well-child programming: After a child is born, their early experiences can strongly impact their long-term outcomes. As such, CenteringPregnancy implementation sites should connect mothers with programs focused on promoting child well-being after their child is born. Such programs, like Centering Healthcare’s CenteringParenting model, facilitate access to health assessments, immunizations, developmental screenings, and more.