CenteringPregnancy: a new approach in prenatal care.

CenteringPregnancy is an innovative model of prenatal care that emphasizes risk assessment, education, and support within a group setting. Created by a nurse midwife and encompassing a midwifery focus on women's health, the CenteringPregnancy program allows prenatal care providers and the women they serve to accomplish care goals by allowing more than 20 hours of contact time throughout pregnancy and early postpartum. Amid new studies revealing traditional prenatal care's lack of effectiveness in reducing low birthweight and calls from public health sectors for more comprehensive prenatal care programs, the CenteringPregnancy model is one new approach in response to these challenges.