AHRQ Innovations Exchange | Group Visits Focused on Prenatal Care and Parenting Improve Birth Outcomes and Provider Efficiency

Group Visits Focused on Prenatal Care and Parenting Improve Birth Outcomes and Provider Efficiency


Snapshot
Summary

The Centering Healthcare Institute offers two group care models, one for pregnant woman (known as CenteringPregnancy) and one for new mothers (known as CenteringParenting), that integrate health assessment, education, and support into a unified program. Groups meet in ten 2-hour sessions in which participants receive health assessments, learn care skills, participate in facilitated discussions, and develop a support network. A study of CenteringPregnancy found that group care participants received better prenatal care, had fewer preterm births, were more likely to initiate breastfeeding, and had better prenatal knowledge than those receiving "usual" care. Sites using the model also report an enhanced capacity to serve nonpregnant patients, as the group sessions free up resources previously used to provide one-on-one care.

See the Description of the Innovative Activity section for information on expansion of the languages in which program materials are available, the Context section for an update on current site locations, and the Planning and Development Process section for a description of how the implementation process has been redesigned for new sites (updated May 2009).


Evidence Rating
Strong: The evidence consists primarily of randomized controlled trials that test the impact of the CenteringPregnancy care model on key outcomes, including adequacy of prenatal care, likelihood of a preterm birth, and rates of sexually transmitted infections.


Developing Organizations
Centering Healthcare Institute
Cheshire,


Date First Implemented
1998
The program was piloted in 1994 and formalized in 1998.

Patient Population
Age > Adult (19-44 years); Vulnerable Populations > Children; Gender > Female; Age > Fetus; Vulnerable Populations > Impoverished; Age > Infant (1-23 months); Vulnerable Populations > Medically or socially complex; Age > Newborn (0-1 month); Vulnerable Populations > Women

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AHRQ Innovations Exchange | Group Visits Focused on Prenatal Care and Parenting Improve Birth Outcomes and Provider Efficiency