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Objectives Preconceptional health care is increasingly recognized as important to promotion of healthy birth outcomes. Preconceptional care offers an opportunity to influence pregnancy timing and intent and mother's health status prior to conception, all predictors of individual outcomes and of inequality in birth outcomes based on race, ethnicity and class. Methods One Key Question, a promising practice developed in Oregon which is now attracting national interest, provides an entry point into preconceptional care by calling on providers to screen for pregnancy intent in well woman and chronic disease care for women of reproductive age. For women who choose not to become pregnant or are not definitive in their pregnancy intent, One Key Question provides an opportunity for provision of or referral to counseling and contraceptive care. Results Adoption of One Key Question and preconceptional care as standard practices will require important shifts in medical practice challenging the longstanding schism between well woman care generally and reproductive care in particular. Adoption will also require shifts in cultural norms which define the onset of pregnancy as the appropriate starting point for attention to infant health. Conclusions for Practice This commentary reviews the case for preconceptional care, presents the rationale for One Key Question as a strategy for linking primary care to preconceptional and/or contraceptive care for women, outlines what is entailed in implementation of One Key Question in a health care setting, and suggests ways to build community support for preconceptional health.

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The purpose of this study was to gain an in-depth understanding of how primary care practices in the United States are transforming their practice to deliver patient-centered care. The study used qualitative research methods to conduct case studies of small primary care practices in the state of Virginia. The research team collected data from practices using in-depth interviews, structured telephone questionnaires, observation, and document review. Team-based care stood out as the most critical method used to successfully transform practices to provide patient-centered care. This article presents 3 team-based care models that were utilized by the practices in this study.

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