Lauren Hughes, MD, MPH

Publications

• Grumbach K (Chair), Anderson A, Bortz B, Fortuna K, Hughes L, Krist A, Gold S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Response to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services CY 2026 Physician Fee Schedule and Other Changes to Part B Payment and Coverage Policies Proposed Rule. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/29259.
• Cohen D (Co-chair), Matthews K (Co-chair), Anderson A, Coker T, Davis Y, Fortuna K, Ganguli I, Giscombe G, Grumbach K, Hughes L, Jabbarpour Y, Krist A, Sprott C, Wakefield M, Winford E, Gold S, Jaqua B, Tilhou A. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Building a workforce to develop and sustain interprofessional primary care teams. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/29226.
• Matthews K, Hughes L, Sprott C, and Gergen-Barnett K. “Primary care: A crucial catalyst to build a healthier USA.” The Lancet Primary Care. 2025;1(1).
• Bitton A (Co-chair), Ganguli I (Co-chair), Anderson A, Cancino R, Cohen D, Grumbach K, Hasselberg M, Hughes L, Krist A, Matthews K, and Winford E. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Improving primary care valuation processes to inform the physician fee schedule. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/29069.
• Krist A, Winford E, Wakefield M, Jabbarpour Y, Cohen D, Grumbach K, Hasselberg M, Bortz B, Fortuna K, Cancino R, Gold S, Tong S, Meisnere M, and Hughes LS. “Implementing High-Quality Primary Care in 2025: Key Policy Priorities.” National Academy of Medicine. August 25, 2025. https://nam.edu/perspectives/implementing-high-quality-primary-care-in-2025-key-policy-priorities/.
• Gold S, Leggott K, Hemeida S, Karra L, Ram A, Hughes LS. “State Policies to Advance Primary Care Payment Reform in the Commercial Sector.” The Eugene S. Farley, Jr. Health Policy Center. April 2025. https://medschool.cuanschutz.edu/docs/librariesprovider231/default-document-library/commercialpcreformreport.pdf?sfvrsn=ed8b29b4_3.
• Gold S, Leggott K, Hemeida S, Karra L, Ram A, Hughes LS. “Advancing Primary Care Payment Reform in the Commercial Sector: A State Policy Playbook.” The Eugene S. Farley, Jr. Health Policy Center. April 2025. https://medschool.cuanschutz.edu/docs/librariesprovider231/default-document-library/commercialpcreformplaybook.pdf?sfvrsn=268829b4_2.
• Hughes L (contributor as member of the Collaborative) “Colorado’s Primary Care Payment Reform Collaborative: Sixth Annual Recommendations Report.” February 2025.
• Hughes L, Sullivan E, Susa J, and Anderson B. “Understanding and supporting the revenue cycle in a rural critical access hospital: What would you do?” Harvard Medical School Center for Primary Care: Primary Care Systems Case Collection. January 2025. https://www.thecasecentre.org/products/view?id=206031.
• Hughes LS and Bennett K. “Rural hospitals will be hit hard by Trump’s signature spending package.” July 6, 2025. https://theconversation.com/rural-hospitals-will-be-hit-hard-by-trumps-signature-spending-package-260164.
• Gold S, Leggott K, Hughes LS, Ram A. “Opinion: As Colorado braces for cuts, Congress must remember Medicaid is an economic engine, not a burden.” June 19, 2025. https://coloradosun.com/2025/06/19/opinion-colorado-medicaid-cuts-senate/,
• Gold S, Leggott K, Hemeida S, Karra L, Ram A, Hughes LS. “Optimizing state policies for primary care payment reform.” May 7, 2025. https://www.milbank.org/2025/05/optimizing-state-policies-for-primary-care-payment-reform/.
• Stansbury K, Creel L, Hughes LS. “Federal Medicaid cuts threaten Colorado’s rural health infrastructure.” April 30, 2025. https://www.coloradopolitics.com/opinion/federal-medicaid-cuts-threaten-colorado-s-rural-health-infrastructure-opinion/article_85331431-8592-40ca-b674-95b27a8435f3.html.
• Hughes L and Gold S. “We need better valuation for primary care: Four steps to achieve it.” The Farley Health Policy Center. On Our Minds. March 2025. https://medschool.cuanschutz.edu/farleyhealthpolicycenter/our-work/on-our-minds.
• Sullivan E, Etz R, Gonzalez M, Deubel J, Reves S, Stange K, Hughes L, and Linzer M. “You cannot function in ‘overwhelm’: Helping primary care navigate the slow end of the pandemic.” J Healthc Manag 2024;69(3):190-204.
• Phillips R, Nielsen M, Cohen D, Hughes L, Bitton A, and Bazemore A. “The Essential Role of Primary Health Care for Health Security.” 2024;37(Supplement) S21-25.
• Hughes L (contributor as member of the Collaborative) “Colorado’s Primary Care Payment Reform Collaborative: Fifth Annual Recommendations Report.” February 2024.
• Hughes L (Co-chair), Wakefield M (Co-chair), Cancino R, Fortuna K, Grumbach K, Jabbarpour Y, Sprott C, and Winford E. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2024. Response to the Pay PCPs Act of 2024 request for information. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/27929.
• Krist A (Co-chair), Cancino R (Co-chair), Anderson A, Bortz B, Fortuna K, Ganguli I, Grumbach K, Hasselberg M, Hughes L, Sprott C, and Winford E. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2024. Response to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services CY2025 advanced primary care hybrid payment request for information. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/27985.
• “Few primary care physicians lead hospitals, despite their immense value: Systems change and delivery system evolution can reverse this trend.” J Am Board Fam Med. 2023;36(4):687-89.
• “The Primary Care Centers Roundtable: Translating Research into Impactful Policy.” Ann Fam Med. 2023;21(4):379-80.
• “You cannot function in overwhelm: Helping primary care navigate the slow end of the pandemic.” Journal of Healthcare Management.
• Strengthening primary care to improve health outcomes in the US - Creating oversight to address invisibility
• Solving rural US health care challenges with frugal innovation: Low-costs, high returns
• The Promise of AIRE
• Dedicated Time for Education is Essential to the Residency Learning Environment
• Residency learning networks: Why and how
• The Burnout of a Rural Doctor
• Vaccine hesitancy threatens rural communities and their health care: This is an emergency
• Navigating Vaccination Challenges in an Iowa Community
• Rural health care is in crisis – here are 5 innovative ways Biden can help it transform. https://theconversation.com/rural-health-is-in-crisis-5-creative-ways-the-biden-administration-can-help-it-thrive-151205
• Colorado's primary care practices are fragile and at risk of collapse. https://medschool.cuanschutz.edu/docs/librariesprovider231/default-document-library/co-primary-care-fragile-jan2021.pdf?sfvrsn=c61b97b9_0
• COVID-19 vaccines: Rural Colorado primary care practices are primed and ready to help. https://medschool.cuanschutz.edu/docs/librariesprovider231/default-document-library/rural-co-covid-vaccines-march2021.pdf
• Michener L, Aguilar-Gaxiola S, Alberti PM, Castaneda MJ, Castrucci BC, Harrison LM, Hughes LS, Richmond A, Wallerstein N. Engaging With Communities - Lessons (Re)Learned From COVID-19. Prev Chronic Dis. 2020 Jul 16;17:E65. PubMed PMID: 32678059
• Kuy S, Tsai R, Bhatt J, Chu QD, Gandhi P, Gupta R, Gupta R, Hole MK, Hsu BS, Hughes LS, Jarvis L, Jha SS, Annamalai A, Kotwal M, Sakran JV, Vohra S, Henry TL, Correa R. Focusing on Vulnerable Populations During COVID-19. Acad Med. 2020 Nov;95(11):e2-e3. PubMed PMID: 32639264
• Kuy S, Gupta R, Correa R, Tsai R, Vohra S, Henry T, Jarvis L, Kotwal M, Gupta R, Sakran J, Hsu B, Gandhi P, Jha S, Fiedler A, Chu Q, Hughes L, Hole M, Robinson L, Bhatt J, and Gordon D. “Best practices for a Covid-19 preparedness plan for health systems.” NEJM Catalyst. 2020. https://catalyst.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/CAT.20.0108
• Westfall J, Coffman M, Hughes L, and Jabbarpour Y. “Incorporating mental health and substance abuse screening into COVID-19 contact tracing.” Health Affairs Blog. July 9, 2020. https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20200707.225691/full/
• Hughes L, Anderson B, Tad-Y D, Deutchman M, Gold S, Vagnini K, Mathieu S, Oyler W, Conyers-Tucker H. "Re-imagining leadership: A pathway for rural health to thrive in a COVID-19 world." https://cha.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Rural-COVID-Playbook_FINAL.pdf
• Hughes L, McKenney J. "Rural hospitals are under siege from COVID-19 - here's what doctors are facing, in their own words." The Conversation. November 20, 2020. https://theconversation.com/rural-hospitals-are-under-siege-from-covid-19-heres-what-doctors-are-facing-in-their-own-words-149442
• Hughes L, Silva R. "In rural America, resentment over COVID-19 shutdowns is colliding with rising case numbers." The Conversation. October 26, 2020. https://theconversation.com/in-rural-america-resentment-over-covid-19-shutdowns-is-colliding-with-rising-case-numbers-148310
• Westfall J, Liaw W, Griswold K, Stange K, Green L, Phillips R, Bazemore A, Jaen C, Hughes L, DeVoe J, Gullett H, Puffer J, Gotler R. "Uniting Public Health and Primary Care for Healthy Communities in the COVID-19 Era and Beyond." JABFM. COVID-19 Ahead-of-Print Subject Collection.
• Understanding and supporting the revenue cycle in a rural critical access hospital: What would you do?
• Rural Health Care Leadership Conundrum: The Burnout of a Good Doctor. Harvard Medical School Center for Primary Care: Primary Care Systems Case Collection.
• Rural Health Care Leadership Conundrum: Navigating Vaccination Challenges in an Iowa Community. Harvard Medical School Center for Primary Care: Primary Care Systems Case Collection.
• “In pursuit of high-quality primary care: A call to action to implement the objectives of the 2021 NASEM report.” Families, Systems, & Health.
• Cheng A, DeVoe J, and Hughes L (eds.). Primary care in a public health emergency: Lessons from the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Springer.

Practice Locations

UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital (UCH)
12605 E. 16th Ave
Aurora, CO 80045
720-848-0000

CeDAR - Center for Dependency, Addiction and Rehabilitation
1693 N. Quentin St
Aurora, CO 80045
877-999-0538

Specialty Information

Specialties

• Family Medicine, Board Certification