Abarca Health set to hit U.S. market via new subsidiary
Jason Borschow, president of Abarca Health.
Abarca Health, a Puerto Rico-based company dedicated to pharmacy benefit management, announced during its recent 10th anniversary celebration the opening of its new division, Abarca Technologies and its plans to expand and export services this year.
The company invested more than $200,000 to establish the new subsidiary, through which a group of some 30 engineers will be developing cutting-edge technology, namely software, in the area of health, both to serve the local market, integrated by most of the leading private health plans and government entities, as to start exporting its services to companies in the United States.
Abarca Health has created more than 100 jobs in the last four years, 50 of them in the last 24 months, in the areas of engineering, pharmaceutical, clinical, among others. Company officials said as a result of the recent expansion, an additional 15 jobs will be added.
“We have spared to offer to our group of professionals the best technological equipment and new and modern facilities, Silicon Valley style. Our aim is to encourage our local talent, most of which are graduates of the University of Puerto Rico, so that they can find on the Island the best working benefits and conditions, and well-paid salary, that allows them to develop professionally here,” said Jason Borschow, president of Abarca Health.
“We’re ready for this new phase, where we will be exporting the fruit of that talent from Puerto Rico to other horizons,” Borschow added.
Since its establishment a decade ago, Abarca Health has received several awards, among them being selected as a “model case” by the Puerto Rico Student Conference on Entrepreneurship, sponsored by MIT, and as one of the winners of the first Puerto Rico Tech Hackers Summit Boot Camp, sponsored by the government of Puerto Rico.
“With Abarca Health we have a magnificent example of the possibilities offered by Act 20 to promote the export of services of Puerto Rican companies. Abarca is now expanding its market to the U.S., operating from here and generating employment and economic activity here,” Economic Development and Commerce Secretary Alberto Bacó said, during the opening of Abarca Tech.
“We want more companies to see this example and discover these opportunities, because it is the way we’ll continue to diversify our economy. The opportunities in the private sector and the focus on services and knowledge, with the support of incentives to attract investment, are key to the economic transformation of our island,” he said.
As a pharmacy benefit manager, Abarca Health processes — in real time — pharmacy claims, benefits assembly design and development of drug forms. Furthermore, its call centers offer consulting and management discounts with pharmaceutical companies for brand name drugs.
The company provides services that benefit nearly 2 million lives in Puerto Rico and manages more than 30 million annual pharmacy claims, representing more than $950 million in investment in drugs, it said.
