September 14, 2026 | By Atrium Health Foundation | In Contributor News
More families across the region are benefiting from Atrium Health’s CenteringPregnancy program thanks to a $2.1 million community investment from AmeriHealth Caritas North Carolina. The evidence-based prenatal care model brings together expectant mothers with similar due dates for personalized health assessments and shared education. This creates a pregnancy care experience that helps them feel informed, connected, and empowered.
In the first year of the investment, CenteringPregnancy served 418 patients and supported 290 live births across Greater Charlotte, while helping lay the foundation for program growth in Winston-Salem. Participants consistently described the program as a positive experience, highlighting the comfort of receiving care alongside others and the sense of preparation they gained for labor, birth, and parenting.
This combination of care and connection is central to every CenteringPregnancy session. Patients receive individual prenatal visits before participating in group discussions covering pregnancy, labor and delivery, postpartum recovery, infant health, breastfeeding, nutrition, and mental wellness.
Interdisciplinary care teams — including nurse educators, social workers, dietitians and lactation consultants — provide clinical expertise while helping address social factors that can influence healthy pregnancies and births. At select locations, eligible patients can also receive transportation assistance and essential baby items such as cribs, car seats, and breast pumps.
“CenteringPregnancy creates an environment where patients can learn from one another, share their experiences, and build a sense of community throughout their pregnancies,” said Dr. Pamela Cobb, director of Women’s Health Equity at Atrium Health, physician at Atrium Health NorthPark OB/GYN, and leader of the CenteringPregnancy program. “The support of partners like AmeriHealth Caritas helps us reach more families who can benefit from this approach.”
“We are encouraged by the early results of the Charlotte pilot and excited about the opportunity to help bring CenteringPregnancy to more families,” said Dr. Steven Spalding, market chief medical officer for AmeriHealth Caritas North Carolina. “As a Medicaid health plan, our support for this program reflects our mission to help people get care, stay well, and build healthy communities. That begins with helping more mothers and babies have a healthy, bright start.”
Since launching at Atrium Health in 2018, CenteringPregnancy has expanded to serve uninsured, underinsured, and other at-risk populations across the region. Today, the program is available at Atrium Health Women’s Care Shelby, Atrium Health Women’s Care Northeast, Atrium Health Myers Park OB/GYN, Atrium Health NorthPark OB/GYN, and Atrium Health Women’s Care Union OB/GYN. The Union location is the program’s newest site, with two new CenteringPregnancy groups recently established through this investment.
To date, Atrium Health has served more than 1,040 patients through CenteringPregnancy. With continued support from partners like AmeriHealth Caritas, even more families will have access to comprehensive prenatal care and support through the journey to parenthood.