Author

Lauren Hughes
Lauren Hughes is an Associate Professor of Family Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Dr. Hughes is a practicing family physician, associate professor of family medicine, and the State Policy Director of the Farley Health Policy Center at the University of Colorado, where she leads initiatives to translate data for policymakers to inform the design and implementation of evidence-based health policy. Her research interests include strengthening rural health care delivery systems, the future of primary care and public health post-COVID, and reforming graduate medical education governance, financing, and social accountability.
Rural hospitals are under siege from COVID-19 – here’s what doctors are facing, in their own words
By: Lauren Hughes and Jennifer Bacani McKenney - December 1, 2020
It’s difficult to put into words how hard COVID-19 is hitting rural America’s hospitals. North Dakota has so many cases, it’s allowing asymptomatic COVID-19-positive nurses to continue caring for patients to keep the hospitals staffed. Iowa and South Dakota have teetered on the edge of running out of hospital capacity. Yet in many communities, the […]
In rural America, resentment over COVID-19 shutdowns is colliding with rising case numbers
By: Lauren Hughes and Roberto Silva - October 27, 2020
As COVID-19 spreads through rural America, new infection numbers are rising to peaks not seen during this pandemic and pushing hospitals to their limits. Many towns are experiencing their first major outbreaks, but that doesn’t mean rural communities had previously been spared the devastating impacts of the pandemic. Infection rates in rural and frontier communities […]