Receipt of Prenatal Counseling among Health Center Patients

Health centers (HCs) funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration provide access to primary and preventive care to almost 26 million vulnerable or medically underserved people. Over half a million women receive prenatal care from those HCs annually, however little is known about their care. We used the 2014 Health Center Patient Survey and the 2013 Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System to report on rates of 10 prenatal counseling measures among low-income HC patients, compared with their counterparts from the general U.S.

A majority of HC patients reported receiving counseling, ranging from 70% to 88% depending on the measure. Health center patients are receiving similar or better care than their national counterparts for several measures of prenatal care counseling, including seatbelt use, physical abuse, smoking, and HIV testing. Rates of counseling are comparable across groups for screening tests, signs of preterm labor, and depression. However, there may be room for improvement in counseling HC patients regarding breastfeeding, alcohol, and safe medications.