Laura Nolan

Laura Nolan is a senior manager with Manatt Health in the Firm’s San Francisco office. She provides implementation support and strategic advice on health care data and policy issues to the full spectrum of health care stakeholders. Her areas of expertise are Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), health care data analytics, the social drivers of health, behavioral health, maternal and infant health, and quality measurement in health care.

Prior to joining Manatt, Laura was a senior researcher at a research and data analytics consultancy for nearly eight years. She led interdisciplinary teams conducting data analytics and policy research for clients such as the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services within the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation within the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Minnesota Department of Public Health. Her work has provided evidence-based insights into Medicaid and CHIP data, enrollment, operations, utilization, and quality to stakeholders and federal and state clients to inform their resource allocation and operational decisions.

Prior to working at the research and data analytics consultancy, Laura completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Columbia University’s School of Social Work, and a summer fellowship with Data Science for Social Good working for the Illinois Department of Health Care Services.

Senior Manager

San Francisco

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Offices

Laura Nolan

Education

Princeton University, Ph.D., Demography and Social Policy, 2015

Harvard University, T.H. Chan School of Public Health, M.Sc., Global Health and Population, 2011

Tufts University, B.A., Psychology and Spanish, 2006

Accomplishments

Speaker, “Elevating Encounter Data: Strategies for Enhanced Managed Care Plan Submissions,” National Association of Health Data Organizations (NAHDO) at 40: Data and Policy Spanning the Decades Conference, November 2025.

Speaker, “Transforming California Medicaid into a Data-Driven Program: Three Ambitious Initiatives,” Medicaid Enterprise Systems Conference, August 2025

Co-presenter, “State Policy and Child Poverty: Simulating an Impact of a Race to the Top,” 20th Anniversary of Welfare Reform: Changes to the Social Safety Net and Their Consequences, Washington, D.C., November 2016.

Contributing Presentation Author, “Long-Term Trends in Urban and Rural Poverty: New Insights Using a Historical Supplemental Poverty Measure, 1967-2014,” The New Rural-Urban Interface: A Research Conference, Philadelphia, September 2016.

Contributing Presentation Author, “Using Machine Learning Methods to Predict Adverse Births in Illinois to Improve Resource Allocation for the Better Birth Outcomes Program.” Epidemiology Congress of the Americas, Miami, June 2016.

Presenter, “An Exploration of Adolescent Self-Reported Health and Parent as Proxy in Low-Resource Settings,” Population Association of America Conference, Washington, D.C., April 2016.

Co-presenter, “Predicting Adverse Births in the State of Illinois to Improve Resource Allocation for the Better Birth Outcomes Program,” Data for Good Exchange, New York, September 2015.

Member, Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, 2015-2017

Member, Population Association of America, 2011-2017

Member, American Public Health Association, 2010-2014

Journal Articles

Co-author, “Reducing Poverty among Children: Evidence from State Policy Simulations,” Children and Youth Services Review, vol. 115, 2020.
Co-author, “Machine Learning for Social Services: A Case Study of Prenatal Case Management in Illinois,” American Journal of Public Health, vol. 107, no. 6, 2017, pp. 938-944.
Co-author, “Long-Term Trends in Urban and Rural Poverty: New Insights Using a Historical Supplemental Poverty Measure, 1967-2014,” ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, vol. 672, no. 1, 2017, pp. 123-142.
Co-author, “Reassessing Trends in Poverty Incorporating Geographic Differences in the Cost of Living,” Journal of Social and Economic Measurement, vol. 41, no. 3, 2016, pp. 237-264.
Co-author, “Trends in Child Poverty by Race/Ethnicity: New Evidence Using an Anchored Historical Supplemental Poverty Measure,” Journal of Applied Research on Children, vol. 7, no. 1, 2016, pp. 1-22.
Author, “An Exploration of Adolescent Self-Reported Health and Parent as Proxy in Low-Resource Settings,” Survey Research Methods, vol. 10, no. 2, 2016, pp. 65-83.
Author, “Rural-Urban Child Height for Age Trajectories and Their Heterogeneous Determinants in Four Developing Countries,” Population Research and Policy Review, vol. 35, no. 5, 2016, pp. 599-629.

Reports and Other Publications

Co-author, “An Overview of Medicaid Section 1915(c) Home and Community-Based Services Policy Flexibilities States Adopted During the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency,” Brief. Washington, D.C.: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2023. Available online.
Co-author, “Report to Congress: T-MSIS Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Data Book: Treatment of SUD in Medicaid, 2017.” Report for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Washington, DC: Mathematica, 2019. Available online.
Co-author, “TAF Technical User Guidance: Annual Demographic and Eligibility File,” Baltimore, Maryland: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2019. Available online.
Co-author, “Identifying Beneficiaries with Full-Scope, Comprehensive, and Limited Benefits in the TAF,” TAF DQ Brief #4151. Baltimore, Maryland: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2019. Available online.
Co-author, “Usability of the Restricted Benefits Code in 2016,” TAF DQ Brief #4161. Baltimore, Maryland: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2019. Available online.
Co-author, “Identifying Service Setting in 2016,” TAF DQ Brief #5192. Baltimore, Maryland: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2019. Available online.
Co-author, “Identifying and Benchmarking the Number of Medicaid and CHIP Beneficiaries with Comprehensive Benefits in 2016,” TAF DQ Brief #4051. Baltimore, Maryland: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2019. Available online.
Co-author, “Identifying and Benchmarking the Number of CHIP Beneficiaries in 2016,” TAF DQ Brief #4031. Baltimore, Maryland: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2019. Available online.
Co-author, “Identifying and Benchmarking the Number of Medicaid Beneficiaries with Comprehensive Benefits in 2016,” TAF DQ Brief #4061. Baltimore, Maryland: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2019. Available online.
Co-author, “Identifying and Benchmarking the Number of Dually Eligible Beneficiaries in 2016,” TAF DQ Brief #4071. Baltimore, Maryland: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2019. Available online.
Co-author, “Production of the TAF Research Identifiable Files (RIFs),” TAF DQ Brief #9010. Baltimore, Maryland: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2019.
Co-author, “Benchmarking Inpatient Hospital Stays Among Adult Medicaid Beneficiaries in 2016,” TAF DQ Brief #5021. Baltimore, Maryland: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2019.
Co-author, “Using the Type of Bill to Classify Institutional Claims in 2016,” TAF DQ Brief #5041. Baltimore, Maryland: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2019. Available online.
Co-author, “Risk Adjustment Methodology Report: All-Cause Emergency Department Utilization Rate for Medicaid Beneficiaries Who May Benefit From Integrated Physical and Behavioral Healthcare,” Submitted to the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Washington, D.C.: Mathematica, April 18, 2019.
Co-author, “All-Cause Emergency Department Utilization Rate for Medicaid Beneficiaries Who May Benefit From Integrated Physical and Behavioral Health Care (PMH-20: Measure testing report),” Submitted to the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Washington, D.C.: Mathematica Policy Research, June 2018.
Co-author, “New Chronic Opioid Users in Minnesota,” Issue Brief Submitted to the Minnesota Department of Public Health, June 2018.
Co-author, “Stratification for Medicaid Beneficiaries with Serious Mental Illness: Proportion of Days Covered: 3 Rates by Therapeutic Category (PMH-10) Measure Testing Report,” Submitted to the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Washington, D.C.: Mathematica Policy Research, May 2018.
Co-author, “Follow-Up Care for Adult Medicaid Beneficiaries Newly Prescribed an Antipsychotic Medication (PMH-1) Measure Testing Report,” Submitted to the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Washington, D.C.: Mathematica Policy Research, March 2017.
Co-author, “Poverty in the 50 States: Long-Term Trends and the Role of Social Policies,” Chartbook for the Center on Poverty & Social Policy and the Columbia Population Research Center at Columbia University. Available online.

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