Institutions
Mental Health and Anti-Addiction Services Administration
Organizes prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and recovery programs concerning mental health and substance use. It is administratively attached to Health with its own legal personality and fiscal and administrative autonomy, and also licenses provider institutions within its remit.
Secs. 1, 6, 16 ↗Regulatory Bodies Office ↗ · Sources consulted:Administración de Servicios de Salud Mental y Contra la Adicción · Mental Health and Anti-Addiction Services Administration · ASSMCA
Spanish legal name: Administración de Servicios de Salud Mental y Contra la Adicción. Spanish legal names are retained. Some English names are functional translations.
- Government level
- State-level
- Branch or grouping
- Executive
- Type
- Office
- Sources consulted
- Oct 18, 2026
What it does
- Develops and coordinates prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation programs. Its directory distinguishes services for children, youth and families, adults, recovery, inpatient care, and people experiencing homelessness; these are different work areas within one administration.Sec. 6(f)–(g) ↗Auxiliary Treatment Administration ↗ · Sources consulted:
- Provides and coordinates different levels of care, including outpatient, intensive outpatient, and residential programs according to population and program. A directory listing does not mean every person can enter any program without assessment.Children, Youth and Families Division; adult services ↗ · Sources consulted:
- Licenses and supervises public and private institutions offering mental-health and substance-use services, including employee assistance programs. Its Regulatory Bodies Office publishes procedures, a licensed-facilities list, and complaint forms.Regulatory Bodies Office; documents ↗Sec. 16 ↗ · Sources consulted:
- May conduct research, training, and technical assistance supporting its programs. Its role includes evaluating and coordinating resources; it is broader than a single hospital or a referral office.Sec. 8(d), (f) ↗ · Sources consulted:
In everyday life
A family can consult the treatment directory to identify child or adolescent programs and ask about assessment and the appropriate level of care. To verify a facility’s license or raise a complaint within that remit, it should use the licensing area. Finding treatment and overseeing an institution are related but different functions.Children, Youth and Families Division ↗Active facilities; complaints ↗ · Sources consulted:
How to distinguish it from other institutions
ASES contracts for and oversees insurance; ASSMCA organizes programs and exercises specialized licensing authority. ASSMCA’s administrator also holds an ex officio seat on ASES’s board; that participation does not make ASSMCA an ASES subsidiary.Art. IV, sec. 4 ↗Secs. 1, 16 ↗ · Sources consulted:
An ASSMCA-licensed facility may be public or private. Licensing does not establish ASSMCA ownership or employment of its staff. Likewise, location at the Medical Center does not automatically make an institution an ASEM subsidiary.Public and private provider institutions ↗Arts. 2–4 ↗ · Sources consulted:
Official services and information
Confirm requirements, forms, and schedules on the linked official portal.
Where it fits
- Administratively attached to: Department of Health Sec. 1 ↗ · Sources consulted:
- Administrator appointed by the Secretary of: Department of Health Secs. 7(a), 8 ↗ · Sources consulted:
- Ex officio board seat: Puerto Rico Health Insurance Administration Art. IV, secs. 3–4 ↗ · Sources consulted:
- Ex officio board seat: Puerto Rico Medical Services Administration Art. 5 ↗ · Sources consulted:
Map groupings support navigation; they do not themselves establish reporting authority.
Leadership & appointments
ASSMCA administrator
Under secs. 7(a) and 8, the Secretary of Health appoints and supervises the administrator and sets compensation. That rule is not represented as direct gubernatorial appointment with Senate confirmation. ASSMCA’s official releases identify Catherine Oliver Franco as administrator; they do not establish all appointment-process dates here.Secs. 7(a), 8 ↗August 11, 2026 release ↗ · Sources consulted:
Catherine Oliver Franco
Sources consulted: Oct 18, 2026 · Sources & method ↓
- Appointment
- Verification pending
- Confirmation
- Verification pending
- Term end
- Verification pending
Governance & composition
The law assigns operations to an administrator under the Secretary of Health’s powers, rather than a general ASSMCA corporate board. The administrator’s seats on the ASES and ASEM boards concern those other entities’ governance. They should not be confused with a board governing ASSMCA.Secs. 6–8 ↗Art. IV, sec. 4 ↗Art. 5 ↗ · Sources consulted:
Sources consulted: Oct 18, 2026
Sources & method
The consultation date is not the institution’s own update date.
- PR.gov — Administración de Servicios de Salud Mental y Contra la Adicción ↗https://pr.gov/directorio-de-agencias/administracion-de-servicios-de-salud-mental-y-contra-la-adiccion-dpto-salud-0Sources consulted: Oct 17, 2026
- Ley 67-1993 — ASSMCA (compilación OGP) ↗https://bvirtualogp.pr.gov/ogp/Bvirtual/LeyesOrganicas/Pages/67-1993.pdfSources consulted: Oct 18, 2026 · Document revised: Jan 2, 2025
- ASSMCA — licenciamiento y organismos reguladores ↗https://www.assmca.pr.gov/licenciamientoSources consulted: Oct 18, 2026
- ASSMCA — programas y niveles de tratamiento ↗https://www.assmca.pr.gov/tratamientosSources consulted: Oct 18, 2026
- Ley 72-1993 — Administración de Seguros de Salud (compilación OGP) ↗https://bvirtualogp.pr.gov/ogp/Bvirtual/LeyesOrganicas/Pages/72-1993.pdfSources consulted: Oct 18, 2026 · Document revised: Apr 21, 2025
- Ley 66-1978 — Administración de Servicios Médicos (compilación OGP) ↗https://bvirtualogp.pr.gov/ogp/Bvirtual/LeyesOrganicas/Pages/66-1978.pdfSources consulted: Oct 18, 2026 · Document revised: Apr 16, 2024
- ASSMCA — historia y misión ↗https://www.assmca.pr.gov/sobre-assmcaSources consulted: Oct 18, 2026
- ASSMCA — comunicados oficiales ↗https://www.assmca.pr.gov/comunicadosSources consulted: Oct 18, 2026