Laura Phelan
Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services

Laura Phelan is the Administrator of the Division of Medical Programs for the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS). Throughout her time in state and federal government, Laura has worked to improve access to affordable, quality health care and advance health equity. Over the past decade at HFS, Laura also has served as the agency’s Deputy Director for New Initiatives, the agency’s Policy Director, and as an MCO Account Manager and the Medicare-Medicaid Alignment Initiative (MMAI) Program Manager within the HFS Bureau of Managed Care.  

Prior to her time at HFS, Laura served as the state’s Policy Director for Get Covered Illinois and as a Senior Health Policy Advisor for the Illinois Department of Insurance, as a Presidential Management Fellow at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ budget office and at the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, and as a policy Dunn Fellow in the Illinois Governor’s Office. Laura has a Master of Public Administration from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and a Bachelor of Arts from Illinois Wesleyan University.