A new toolkit is available for primary care physicians to help them meet their patients’ preconception needs. The National Preconception/Interconception Care Clinical Toolkit is available on the BeforeandBeyond website and focuses on the response to the question “Are you hoping to become pregnant in the next year?”

Depending on a woman’s answer — she plans on pregnancy, is unsure or does not desire to become pregnant — physicians can access information and resources that allow them to tailor their response and care to meet her overall and reproductive health needs.

Preconception health is a woman’s health during the years she can have a child. It has the largest impact on birth outcomes. Whether they are planning to become pregnant or not, it is important for women to take care of their heal

The goal of the toolkit is to help clinicians reach every woman who might someday become pregnant every time she presents for routine primary care with efficient, evidence-based strategies and resources.

The toolkit was developed by the Clinical Work Group of the national Preconception Health and Health Care Initiative, a public-private partnership working to advance  preconception knowledge and care, and was supported in part by funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the National Preconception Health and Health Care Initiative and the Center for Maternal and Infant Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.