Healthcare Transactional & Regulatory Counsel
Daniel Santos is widely regarded as one of the leading healthcare transactional and regulatory lawyers advising insurers, health systems, and healthcare investors on strategic growth, governance, and complex regulatory and compliance matters across the United States. His practice is distinguished by a special combination of top-tier law-firm experience and senior C-suite leadership, having served as Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, and Corporate Secretary of a $7B+ multistate health plan and General Counsel of a 500K+ member insurance division of a major integrated delivery system.
Daniel is particularly recognized for his work on transformative healthcare transactions, including multistate market expansions, insurer and provider acquisitions, joint ventures, private equity investments, Medicaid and Medicare strategy, and multimillion-dollar partnerships between health systems, health plans, and emerging care-delivery organizations. His experience includes leading the due diligence, structuring, and negotiation of a $10M value-based senior-care investment; directing a three-state market expansion through new licensing and joint ventures; securing more than $282M in PBM-related savings; and serving as outside M&A counsel for payer and provider transactions exceeding $1.5B in value.
In the governance arena, Daniel is known for modernizing board structures, advising on fiduciary duties, and resolving high-stakes governance disputes. He co-led a multiyear governance restructuring of a multi-state, regional health plan—strengthening independence, diversifying board composition, and resolving contentious litigation with the organization’s founding institutional partner.
Daniel’s regulatory experience spans risk management, compliance program design, privacy/security matters, multi-state licensure, PBM and provider disputes, reinsurance transactions, and oversight of audits, investigations and litigation portfolios. Clients value his ability to translate complex regulatory frameworks into strategic, actionable guidance aligned with enterprise goals.
He has been recognized by leading industry publications and organizations—including the American Bar Foundation (Fellow), Minnesota Lawyer (In-House Counsel Award), Twin Cities Business (“Notable General Counsel”), Virginia Business (“Legal Elite”), Super Lawyers (“Rising Star”), and the Hispanic National Bar Association (“Top Lawyer Under 40”).
Before entering the legal profession, Daniel served as a decorated U.S. Navy Special Operations Officer, commanding elite diving and salvage detachments worldwide. This operational and leadership foundation informs his calm under pressure, clarity of execution, and disciplined approach to advising clients on high-stakes matters.
