Arbona system reengineered in the Garcia-Ariz Model: a national health reform plan from an orthopedics program perspective.

During the 1950's the healthcare system of Puerto Rico was maintained exclusively by the local government. The Arbona system, as it came to be known, although it provided health care professionals on the island with multiple educational experiences, presented substantial costs for the government. In the early 1990's a program of privatization known as "La Reforma" was implemented with the ultimate goal of providing a universal coverage system for the poor and the needy.