Institutions
Puerto Rico Medical Services Administration
Administers shared medical, auxiliary, and support services at Puerto Rico’s Medical Center and coordinates participating institutions. It has separate legal personality and is attached to Health. The Medical Center is a group of institutions, not a single agency owning every hospital there.
Arts. 2–4 ↗What is the Medical Center? ↗ · Sources consulted:Administración de Servicios Médicos de Puerto Rico (ASEM) · Puerto Rico Medical Services Administration · ASEM
Spanish legal name: Administración de Servicios Médicos de Puerto Rico (ASEM). Spanish legal names are retained. Some English names are functional translations.
- Government level
- State-level
- Branch or grouping
- Executive
- Type
- Public corporation
- Sources consulted
- Oct 18, 2026
What it does
- Organizes, operates, and administers centralized services used by the Medical Center’s consumer institutions. The law distinguishes those shared services from the entities purchasing or using them.Arts. 2(4)–(5), 4 ↗ · Sources consulted:
- Lists clinical services such as emergency care, a blood bank, and hyperbaric medicine, along with other specialized services. Its official directory identifies each service and relevant information; not every service in the complex is presumed to be ASEM-operated.Medical services directory ↗ · Sources consulted:
- Coordinates institutions through its executive director and Medical Administration and Policy Committee so shared services function as a system. Service coordination does not automatically merge participants’ legal identities.Arts. 4, 19 ↗Art. 19 ↗ · Sources consulted:
- Provides external-clinic appointment information and channels for patient comments or complaints. Referral, registration, and coordination requirements should be checked in the relevant official service information.External Clinics FAQ; appointment registration ↗ · Sources consulted:
In everyday life
Someone referred to an external clinic consults ASEM’s appointment channels and service instructions. If the issue is qualification for government coverage, eligibility assessment belongs to Medicaid; for contracted coverage, consult ASES and insurer information. Their involvement in one healthcare experience does not make them the same institution.Appointment registration; frequently asked questions ↗Eligibility ↗Beneficiaries ↗ · Sources consulted:
How to distinguish it from other institutions
ASEM provides and coordinates services; ASES contracts for and monitors insurance coverage; Health’s Medicaid Program evaluates eligibility. A clinic appointment, eligibility decision, and insurer question are different tasks.Art. 4 ↗Art. IV, sec. 2 ↗Eligibility assessment ↗ · Sources consulted:
The Medical Center includes institutions associated with different organizations; shared facilities or services do not establish subordination. For example, the law reserves separate representation for Health, the Medical Sciences Campus, San Juan municipality, and other entities on the Participating Entities Board.Arts. 2, 5 ↗Art. 5 ↗ · Sources consulted:
Official services and information
- Medical services and service-specific information ↗
- Appointments, frequently asked questions, and patient information ↗
- Medical Center and participating institutions ↗
Confirm requirements, forms, and schedules on the linked official portal.
Where it fits
- Administratively attached to: Department of Health Art. 3 ↗ · Sources consulted:
- Director appointed, with approval, by the Secretary of: Department of Health Art. 5 ↗ · Sources consulted:
- Board includes an ex officio seat from: Department of Health Art. 5 ↗ · Sources consulted:
- Board includes an ex officio seat from: Department of the Family Art. 5 ↗ · Sources consulted:
- Board includes an ex officio seat from: Mental Health and Anti-Addiction Services Administration Art. 5 ↗ · Sources consulted:
- Board includes an ex officio seat from: State Insurance Fund Corporation Art. 5 ↗ · Sources consulted:
- Board includes an ex officio seat from: Municipality of San Juan Art. 5 ↗ · Sources consulted:
- Board includes the Medical Sciences chancellor of: University of Puerto Rico Art. 5 ↗ · Sources consulted:
- Statutory board seat for: Puerto Rico Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority Art. 16 ↗Entity 33: ASEM ↗ · Sources consulted:
Map groupings support navigation; they do not themselves establish reporting authority.
Leadership & appointments
ASEM executive director
The Secretary of Health appoints the executive director with the Board’s advice and the governor’s approval; the director serves at the Secretary’s pleasure. These are three distinct steps, not gubernatorial appointment with Senate confirmation. This review documents the legal rule but does not certify the current occupant or dates: historical website news is insufficient to establish them.Art. 5 ↗ · Sources consulted:
A name is not published without current verification of the role.
- Appointment
- Verification pending
- Confirmation
- Verification pending
- Term end
- Verification pending
An absent name does not imply a vacancy. Names from the seed report are not automatically treated as current officeholders.
Governance & composition
Art. 5 lists seats for Health—which chairs—the Medical Sciences Campus chancellor, Puerto Rican League Against Cancer, San Juan mayor, CFSE, Family, ASSMCA, two consumers, and the Medical Administration and Policy Committee chair. Health appoints consumer representatives; successors have four-year terms. The Committee elects its chair. The AAFAF seat provided by Act 2-2017 for covered entities must also be considered rather than treating the older enumeration as complete. Current occupants, vacancies, and delegations are not certified.Arts. 5, 19 ↗Art. 19 ↗Art. 16 ↗Entity 33 ↗ · Sources consulted:
Members, vacancies, and terms are not certified as a complete roster. An expired term is not automatically treated as a vacancy; some laws allow service until a successor qualifies.
Sources consulted: Oct 18, 2026
Open research
The covered-entities list published by UPR evidences ASEM’s designation; it is neither its board roster nor a current certification of delegations. Minutes and appointment records are needed to reconcile actual membership, AAFAF representation, and consumer terms. The absence of a reconciled roster is not treated as evidence of vacancies.Entity 33 ↗Art. 5 ↗Art. 16 ↗ · Sources consulted:
Sources & method
The consultation date is not the institution’s own update date.
- PR.gov — Administración de Servicios Médicos de Puerto Rico (ASEM) ↗https://pr.gov/directorio-de-agencias/administracion-de-servicios-medicos-dpto-salud-6Sources consulted: Oct 17, 2026
- 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
- ASEM — Centro Médico, instituciones y estructura ↗https://www.asem.pr.gov/sobre-nosSources consulted: Oct 18, 2026
- ASEM — directorio de servicios médicos ↗https://www.asem.pr.gov/servicios-medicosSources consulted: Oct 18, 2026
- ASEM — servicios centralizados, clínicas y orientación al paciente ↗https://www.asem.pr.gov/Sources 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
- Departamento de Salud — Programa Medicaid ↗https://www.salud.pr.gov/CMS/85Sources consulted: Oct 18, 2026
- ASES — Plan Vital: elegibilidad, servicios y derechos ↗https://www.ases.pr.gov/plan-vitalSources consulted: Oct 18, 2026
- Ley 2-2017 — AAFAF: organización, facultades y sucesión de asientos (compilación OGP) ↗https://bvirtualogp.pr.gov/ogp/Bvirtual/LeyesOrganicas/Pages/2-2017.pdfSources consulted: Oct 18, 2026 · Document revised: Jul 2, 2026
- FOMB — Covered Entities (copia publicada por la Junta de Gobierno de la UPR) ↗https://juntagobierno.upr.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/134/2021/02/PROMESA_Covered_Entities_List.pdfSources consulted: Oct 18, 2026