Podcasts

Bridging Policy, Practice, and Education: Preparing the Next Generation of Family Physicians to Lead

Presented by Lauren S. Hughes, MD, MPH, MSc, MHCDS, University of Colorado
STFM Conference on Practice & Quality Improvement 2025 Opening Session | Monday, September 8, 2025

As value-based care (VBC) continues to reshape the health care landscape, it is critical that family medicine residency programs prepare the next generation of physicians to not only adapt to policy changes but to lead them. This session explores how physician engagement at the state and federal levels can directly influence primary care transformation—and how those lessons can be brought back to the clinic and the classroom.

Drawing on firsthand experience from launching the Pennsylvania Rural Health Model, a multi-payer global budget model focused on rural and frontier hospitals, and co-chairing the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) Standing Committee on Primary Care, Dr Hughes will share insights on how to drive high-impact policy change through coalition building, data-driven decision making, and visionary leadership. These experiences will be directly tied to strategies for training future family physicians to navigate and influence the evolving world of VBC.

Special attention will be given to the implications of VBC in rural and underserved communities, where innovation leverages robust community partnerships, deep knowledge of local health care needs, and a strong commitment to well-being. The talk will also explore how the current federal administration’s policy directions may influence VBC and graduate medical education – and how training programs can remain agile and proactive in this shifting environment.

Attendees will leave better equipped to train, support, and inspire future family physician leaders, those who can bridge the gap between policy and practice to deliver high-quality, equitable primary care.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this session, participants should be able to:

1. Describe how physician leaders can influence health policy at the state and federal levels by exploring examples focused on rural health and primary care.
2. Identify effective strategies to teach residents about the evolving value-based care landscape, especially in rural and underserved communities.
3. Discuss the potential impact of the current federal administration’s policies on value-based care initiatives and residency training.

Copyright © Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, 2025

Presentation Slides

Lauren S. Hughes, MD, MPH, MSc, MHCDS

Lauren S. Hughes, MD, MPH, MSc, MHCDS, FAAFP, is the state policy director of the Farley Health Policy Center and associate professor of family medicine, both at the University of Colorado, where she researches how to strengthen primary care infrastructure, transform rural health care delivery, and advance behavioral health integration. Dr Hughes previously served as deputy secretary for health innovation in the Pennsylvania Department of Health, where she launched the state’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program and the Pennsylvania Rural Health Model, a new payment and delivery model co-designed with the CMS Innovation Center that transitions rural hospitals from fee-for-service to multi-payer global budgets.

Dr Hughes is a former chair of the American Board of Family Medicine and an alumna of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program. She currently serves as chair of the Rural Health Redesign Center Organization Board of Directors and is a member of the Primary Care Payment Reform Collaborative convened by the Colorado Division of Insurance. In 2018, she was selected as a presidential leadership scholar by former US Presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush Jr., and in 2023, she was named as the co-chair of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Standing Committee on Primary Care.