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The Financial Oversight and Management Board will tackle the subject of healthcare at its meeting today.
The oversight board is meeting today at the Convention Center in San Juan and will discuss the subject of healthcare after its executive director, Robert Mujica, provides an update on the entity’s activities.
For more than two decades Puerto Rico’s health system has been going through a progressive crisis, largely caused by a shortage of health professionals, many of whom leave the island in search of better salaries and benefits, and to escape the pitfalls imposed on them by local insurers.
At the same time, the U.S. commonwealth’s profound demographic changes, among other factors, such as the adoption of new medical protocols in which outpatient care is prioritized, has put some hospitals in a bind in which they must choose between declaring bankruptcy or reducing their services in order to continue operating.
A study from the economic consulting firm Estudios Técnicos last year revealed that eight out of 10 hospitals in Puerto Rico operate in deficit.
