For Dr. Judith Tessema, Chief Medical Officer of Hardeman County Community Health Center (HCCHC), outstanding care begins with authenticity, collaboration, and a willingness to solve problems—whether for patients, staff, or the larger community.
That’s why she is the recipient of the Outstanding Practitioner of the Year Award from the Tennessee Primary Care Association (TPCA), which recognizes an individual who has demonstrated outstanding leadership, community involvement, and dedication to patient care.
HCCHC is a Federal Qualified Health Center (FQHC) who provides comprehensive, integrated and quality health care services to improve the health and well-being of over 6,000 patients in Chester, Hardeman, and Haywood counties.
Leading Authentically, Serving Fully
Dr. Tessema exemplifies leadership rooted in authenticity, service, and compassion. Her philosophy is simple: “We all strive to improve, but you have to remain true to yourself. People know when you're being genuine, so I've always believed in leading authentically.”
For Dr. Tessema authentic leadership means being fully present for both the staff and patients. Rather than leading from behind a desk, she believes leaders should remain engaged in the day-to-day operations of care delivery and support their teams through action.
Her nominator described her this way: “She’s the kind of practitioner who isn’t confined by titles—always approachable, always ready to roll up her sleeves and help wherever she’s needed.”
That hands-on approach allows Dr. Tessema to better understand the challenges facing both staff and patients. Each day, she works alongside her team to identify obstacles and find practical solutions. "I always try to ask, 'What's getting in the way?' Then work together to remove barriers so our team can focus on taking care of patients.”
It is this collaborative spirit and commitment to service that have earned her the respect and trust of her colleagues while fostering a workplace culture built on shared purpose, support, and open and direct communication.
Transforming Care Through Innovation
In her time at HCCHC, Dr. Tessema and her amazing team have implemented several impactful programs to improve health outcomes in the communities they serve.
Expanding Access Through Telehealth
She helped launch a full telehealth program, expanding access and ensuring compliance and billing standards were met system-wide.
Strengthening Cancer Screening and Prevention
She enhanced the clinic’s existing pap registry and outreach to ensure timely follow-up on abnormal cervical cancer screenings, strengthening continuity of care and improving compliance.
Through a partnership with Exact Sciences, she helped enable free colorectal cancer screenings for uninsured patients. She also secured a grant to fund patient education and incentives for returning outstanding test kits.
Supporting Patients with Chronic Conditions
She developed an internal chronic care management program to support Medicare patients with multiple chronic conditions—including staff training on care coordination and compliant billing procedures.
She helped expand and refine the Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) program by revising clinical workflows, strengthening RN-led monitoring and patient education, implementing compliant billing processes, and further integrating CGM into chronic disease management and population health initiatives.
Additionally, she refined HCCHC’s blood pressure remote patient monitoring program by enhancing data management and reporting and securing two AmeriCorps/HeartCorps service members and a care management nurse to help with outreach and management of critical blood pressures.
When discussing what motivates her to look for new ways to improve care delivery, Dr. Tessema explains that innovation is born from necessity.
“Our patients’ needs are complex and constantly evolving, so our care models have to evolve too,” she says.
Caring for the Care Team
While Dr. Tessema’s work is deeply focused on improving patient outcomes, she believes quality care begins with supporting the people who provide it.
As healthcare systems nationwide face growing workforce shortages and provider burnout, she approaches employee well-being as a team-wide priority. “I don't think about it as just supporting medical providers,” she explains. “We really try to look at it as the entire care team.”
That philosophy has shaped several efforts at HCCHC aimed at reducing burdens and helping staff work more efficiently. Dr. Tessema focuses on practical changes that make daily work more manageable, such as implementing an AI scribe to improve documentation workflows, strengthening team-based care through thorough chart preparation, clearer communication and delegation of responsibilities, and improved nursing-provider ratios.
She says some of her inspiration comes from the American Medical Association's "GROSS" initiative—short for Get Rid of Stupid Stuff—which encourages organizations to eliminate unnecessary tasks that contribute to burnout.
“Basically, get rid of anything silly or unnecessary first. Or see if you can automate it,” she says.
She also emphasizes regular communication and collaboration, and she supported the creation of weekly departmental breakout sessions where providers, nursing and front desk can raise concerns and discuss workflow challenges in real time, in their respective sessions.
For her, these improvements are about are about creating an environment where staff feel supported and able to do meaningful work.
“When the team is happy, the patients are happy,” she shares.
That mindset reflects the same servant leadership her colleagues praised throughout her nomination. One practitioner noted that Dr. Tessema has been “an unwavering advocate” for reducing burnout and improving workplace culture.
Building Better Systems, Not Just Solving Problems
Looking toward the future of HCCHC, Dr. Tessema is energized by opportunities to strengthen healthcare infrastructure and create sustainable solutions that meet the evolving needs of rural communities.
“The thing that excites me most is solving problems and building better systems,” she says. “Systems that are innovative, sustainable, and meaningful.”
She is particularly encouraged by growing investments in rural healthcare and the possibilities created through grant funding and rural health transformation efforts. These resources, she says, have the potential to help health centers move beyond short-term fixes and build systems that can create lasting impact.
Many of those efforts hit close to home. At HCCHC, many staff members come from the very communities they serve.
“If we can continue to build better healthcare infrastructure in the community, it impacts us all.” She explains, “Our patients aren't just ‘patients’—they're neighbors, friends, and sometimes our own families.”
What Outstanding Practice Looks Like
Dr. Tessema’s impact at HCCHC reaches far beyond any single initiative or clinical program.
Through innovative care models, operational improvements, and steadfast support for both patients and staff, she continues to work toward strengthening access to care while building a culture rooted in collaboration and compassion.
Her colleagues describe her as approachable, thoughtful, and deeply committed. Someone who is always willing to step in, listen, and help solve problems. Those qualities make her a fitting recipient of the Outstanding Practitioner of the Year Award.
But perhaps more importantly, they reflect something larger about the role practitioners play within community health centers. Outstanding practitioners do more than diagnose and treat illness—they strengthen teams, build systems, and help create healthier communities.
Celebrate Your Colleagues: TPCA’s Awards of Excellence
Each year, TPCA honors health center staff, board members, and community supporters for their exceptional gifts of time, effort, and dedication to the community health movement.
Nominations for this year are open and will be presented at TPCA 2026 Annual Conference.
This interview was edited for brevity and clarity.
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