Lauren Hughes, MD, MPH, MsC, FAAFP
State Policy Director
Lauren, a family physician, was both a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar and Robert Graham Center Scholar. Previously she was Deputy Secretary for Health Innovation in the Pennsylvania Department of Health. In this role she designed and implemented statewide strategies to improve health and health care for all Pennsylvanians. She oversaw the launch of the Pennsylvania Prescription Drug Monitoring Program to help clinicians combat the opioid and heroin epidemic and led the department’s successful bid to become fully accredited through the Public Health Accreditation Board. Along with the CMS Innovation Center, she co-developed the Pennsylvania Rural Health Model designed to move rural hospitals from fee-for-service to value-based. Lauren also led the Model’s 18-month, pre-implementation phase on the state level, operationalizing the work of government officials, hospitals, payers, the hospital association, contractors, and rural health organizations through its launch. She earned her medical degree from the University of Iowa and her master in public health with a concentration in health policy from the George Washington University and in health services research from the University of Michigan as part of the Robert Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program.