R. Christopher Raphaely

Co-Chair, Health Care & Life Sciences

Cozen O’Connor

Chris provides sophisticated transactional and regulatory counsel to an array of health care providers and investors in the health care industry. Prior to joining the firm in 2014, Chris served as deputy general counsel to Jefferson Health System and general counsel to the system’s accountable care organization and captive professional liability insurance companies.

Chris has worked in the health care industry for nearly three decades. His practice focuses on mergers, acquisition, and divestitures transactions for health care clients and the comprehensive regulatory schemes requisite to doing business in the health care space. Chris routinely handles matters involving payer negotiations, payment disputes and contract enforcement, accountable care organizations, management services organization, clinically integrated networks, value based payment arrangements, pharmacy benefit management and third party administrator contracts for self-insured employers, digital health, organizational and governance structures, HIPAA, information privacy and security, tax exemption, Stark Law, fraud and abuse matters, clinical integration, medical staff relations, facility and professional licensing, Pennsylvania's Medical Marijuana Act, and general compliance.

At Jefferson Health System, Chris served as a legal advisor to the system’s board of trustees and executive team and played key roles in Jefferson Health System’s largest and most complex transactions. During his tenure, Chris helped lead the system’s restructuring efforts in 2010 and the separation of its members in 2014, which resulted in the creation of three autonomous and agile health systems. As a result of his extensive in-house experience, Chris has a deeply ingrained understanding of health care clients’ governance structures, day-to-day operations, goals, and expectations.

Prior to joining Jefferson Health System, Chris spent 16 years in private practice representing health care clients in a wide range of transactional and regulatory matters, the last seven as a partner of an Am Law 100 law firm's health law practice group.

Previously, he served as an adjunct professor at Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law and Widener University School of Law, where he taught health care finance. He serves as chairman of the board of The Rock School for Dance Education. He earned his J.D. from Temple University Beasley School of Law and his B.A. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania.