Introducing ABFM’s 2022-23 Board Chair Lauren S. Hughes, MD, MPH, MSC, FAAFP

The American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) is proud to welcome Dr. Lauren Hughes as Chair of the 2022-23 Board of Directors.

Dr. Hughes is the State Policy Director of the Farley Health Policy Center at the University of Colorado and Associate Professor of Family Medicine in the University’s Department of Family Medicine. She has served on the ABFM Board since 2017 in a variety of roles, and we are excited to share her collaborative leadership skills and expertise with Diplomates.

Dr. Hughes is an expert in the design and implementation of evidence-based health policy, with one of her most notable accomplishments coming from her previous work as Deputy Secretary for Health Innovation at the Pennsylvania Department of Health where she worked on strengthening rural health care.

“I was part of a team that designed a new payment and delivery model focused on rural hospitals and helped oversee the launch of that model in 2019,” Dr. Hughes explained.

“Pennsylvania is the only state with a multi-payer model like this, in which Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers all contribute proportionally to pay rural hospitals a global budget. Those hospitals can then anticipate revenue in advance, and they know how to provide services and implement new initiatives to keep their communities healthy given the stable revenue stream. Keeping these institutions open and thriving is critically important to the health of rural communities.”

Prior to her work in Pennsylvania, Dr. Hughes built a unique skill set from a variety of national and international experiences. She volunteered through AmeriCorps in a federally qualified health center, worked with the ABC News Medical Unit in New York City, and served as the national president of the American Medical Student Association.

“I served as a health journalist with ABC News for a month during residency. My goal was to become more experienced in communicating complex health information about a variety of conditions to different audiences. I realized that this experience would help me communicate challenging health policy topics in clear and accessible ways, including how care is financed, organized, and delivered,” she said.
Internationally, Dr. Hughes gained valuable health and health care experience in Brazil, Sweden, Tanzania, and Botswana.

“I love to travel, first of all, but I went to these places because I wanted to experience health care as it was delivered in very different systems and settings. It was phenomenally valuable to contrast how care was delivered in other countries with what we’re doing here in the U.S.,” she said.

Dr. Hughes’ hard work is being noticed, as she was a recipient of the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine’s Early Career Achievement Award in 2016, was selected by Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush as a Presidential Leadership Scholar in 2018, and appointed to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Board on Health Care Services in 2021.

As Board Chair, Dr. Hughes intends to partner with other family medicine organizations, engaging in national-level conversations to strengthen primary care and facilitate adaptation of the new family medicine residency requirements.

“When I look back on the last five years, ABFM has made some phenomenal strides in certification. My top priority is to meaningfully engage Diplomates to continue to enhance the certification process. That’s who we are and what we do as an organization. I want certification to be a valuable and relevant experience that helps family physicians be the best they can at what they do: taking care of patients, families and communities.”

Thank you, Dr. Hughes, for sharing your experience and priorities for ABFM. We look forward to working with you throughout the coming year.

Aaron Burch serves as Editorial Content Manager for the American Board of Family Medicine. He has been writing professionally in the health care field since 2014.