March 12, 2024
Dr. Hodges co-owns Hodges Family Practice in Asheboro with her husband, Dr. Francisco Hodges. In addition to caring for patients there, Dr. Beth Hodges serves as Chief Clinical Officer for Triad Healthcare Network (THN).
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“My father was a family physician,” she says. Later considered “the father of Family Medicine” in Ohio, he had worked in private practice for over 20 years before he moved his family from Cincinnati to Dayton to help start a new medical school at Wright State University. “He was the director of the family medicine residency and also the chairman of the Family Medicine department for the medical school,” Dr. Hodges says. “I was exposed to medical students and residents, and my dad would take me with him to the hospital and to his house calls. So I always wanted to be a doctor. Always.”
Her mind set on becoming a family physician, Dr. Hodges attended Boonshoft School of Medicine at Wright State, where she met Francisco, who was also training to become a family physician. After completing their couples match and getting married, they both attended residency at the Medical College of Virginia. “It was a very comprehensive and fantastic education,” Dr. Hodges says. “We were well-trained when we finished and able to do whatever we wanted. And my husband and I wanted to open our own practice.”
But because the clinical climate in Virginia didn’t meet their needs, the Hodges had to look elsewhere. Dr. Hodges’s father recommended North Carolina: “He said, ‘North Carolina has their act together.’” After researching several towns in the state where they could open their practice, the Hodges chose Asheboro and set up Hodges Family Practice in 1999. “We love Asheboro,” Dr. Hodges says. “We’ve been here since we opened the practice.”
Her patients covered the full range you’d expect from primary care: “We were seeing all ages,” she says, mentioning a particular emphasis at the time on pediatric care.
“We’ve always done some work on the side,” she says. “Fransisco has been a medical director for several nursing homes and works as a part-time medical director at a Medicare Advantage insurance company. I began with hospice care but in 2015 got involved with the Triad Healthcare Network, because it was about letting doctors get back to the work they love to do, which is keeping people healthy.” THN is an accountable care organization (ACO) focused on delivering value-based care.
By 2017, Dr. Hodges had served on several THN committees and wanted more formal work with the network. “They made me a part-time medical director for primary care, which I continue to do,” she says. “I became the chief clinical officer in April 2022.” These extra responsibilities on top of continuing to see patients at Hodges Family Practice are a lot of work, Dr. Hodges admits, but they're enjoyable because of what she can do for her fellow family physicians. “With these ACO initiatives, I can make an impact in keeping patients healthier but also by helping practices financially,” she says. “Half of our network is independent physicians, and their practices struggle month by month to stay open. I can help them.”
For one thing, Dr. Hodges says, “The money practices can get from participating in value-based care can be a buffer to profit margins, which can help keep their doors open.” But sometimes the help she gives is more personal: “Some of our practices have problems dealing with an insurance company, and I have contacts now at the insurance companies so that I can help them. I can advocate for them, and that’s been rewarding.”
Dr. Hodges explains that her father’s example helped her take up this advocacy for her fellow family physicians. “My dad was a big physician advocate,” she says, “and he drilled into me that you needed to advocate for your profession. So taking a leadership position at THN just seemed like a natural thing to do.”
She continues seeing her patients three days a week in Hodges Family Practice. Since it opened, her patients have aged as they’ve remained her patients. “My part of the patient pool has aged,” Dr. Hodges says. “The vast majority of my population is over 55, and I think my oldest patient is about 104 years old.”