A Health Equity-Driven Approach to Primary Care for the Child Born Premature.

Every year, 1 in 10 children is born premature in the United States. Although survival rates for children born premature have improved, health and educational disparities remain persistent across their lifetime compared to full-term peers. Recent attention has been given to the promotion of health and development for children born premature through high-risk follow-up programs. However, there remains limited guidance in primary care and, in particular, guidance with an emphasis on health equity-an even more important focus given the often heightened medical and social needs of children born premature and their families. Grounded in recent best practice re--ations, we propose a health equity-driven framework of follow-up care for the child born premature that is strengthened by a whole child, whole family approach via primary care. We describe 5 health equity-based best practices: family partnership, care coordination, trauma-informed care, antiracism, and social justice. Supported by these best practices, we then describe 4 key topics in primary care health supervision for the child born premature: medical needs, development, social drivers of health, and family mental health.