Supporting access to public health care in Chile

Public health care is a fundamental right in Chile, although access to healthcare and physicians is often a challenge for citizens across the Latin American country.  

HoraSalud, a Chilean social enterprise, estimates that due to inefficient scheduling system at public health care centres around 80% of public health care users have to wait long queues, often late into the night, to receive medical attention, which not only increases their health risks but also could force Chileans to take days off work, driving inequality throughout the country. 

To tackle this issue, HoraSalud, developed an app to manage appointments in real-time. This way, users can book and cancel their appointments, receive reminders and get information through health care campaigns. At the same time, health care facilities can have access to patients’ data, and the public sector can benefit from more traceability and monitoring.  

For six years, HoraSalud has been trusting in TrustLaw, the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s pro bono legal program, to fulfil their mission amid the challenges of limited resources and lack of legal knowledge. Since 2016, TrustLaw has been connecting HoraSalud with several prestigious law firms who contributed to the different stages in the development of this tool.  

Through TrustLaw, HoraSalud obtained the assistance from law firms Cariola Diez Perez-Cotapos & Cia. Ltda. for the drafting of their employment agreements, and Dechert LLP, for the amendment of their by-laws. ECIJA assisted them with the drafting of a services agreement, and Carey offered regulatory advice on the legal framework applicable to in-house and by phone medical attention. Other leading law firms also supported on trademark registration, intellectual property and product licenses advice, the drafting of a software development contract, a share purchase agreement and a non-disclosure agreement as well as the terms and conditions and data privacy policy for their website. In 2020, Ferrada Neheme gave them regulatory advice on the legal requirements to provide telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic, and currently, ObradorDigital SpA is assisting HoraSalud with further protection of their trademark.  

The impact that this kind of app has on society, along with the contributions from the legal experts, is crucial. This initiative helped facilitate access to public health care to over 500 thousand people deprived of quick and efficient medical attention due to deficiencies in the health system. Through this tool, HoraSalud managed to help vulnerable communities in rural areas to get the medical attention needed.  

Dominique Potin, lawyer at Cariola Diez Perez-Cotapos & Cia. Ltda., shared that this is a project that allows to “make health care services accessible to more people who, for different reasons, could not attend health care facilities,” which could generate a radical change in the way medicine will be conducted in the future.   

Raffaela Corte, Director at Ferrada Neheme, said this was a great experience, one from which the legal team could learn about “an interesting topic at a time where telemedicine – given the pandemic – was really necessary.” 

Finally, Jocelyn Durán, founder of HoraSalud, grateful for the pro bono service and “the high-quality legal assistance” received, said that: “TrustLaw gives us legal confidence, as it helps us know all the legal aspects involved and make decisions that protect HoraSalud as well as the patients, who are the ultimate beneficiaries of the service.” 

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Contribuyendo al acceso a la salud pública en Chile

A pesar de tratarse de un derecho fundamental, no todos los ciudadanos pueden acceder fácilmente a la salud pública en Chile, lo que genera muchas desigualdades.

HoraSalud, una empresa social chilena, estima que, debido a la falta de un sistema de gestión de turnos eficiente en los centros de salud pública, alrededor del 80% de los usuarios ha tenido que atravesar largas filas, incluso en horas de la madrugada, para obtener atención médica. Esto conlleva, no solo a un aumento del riesgo de contagios, sino también a una interminable espera que, muchas veces, implica la pérdida del día laboral.

Frente a este problema, HoraSalud desarrolló una aplicación que facilita la gestión de turnos en tiempo real. De esta manera, los usuarios pueden solicitar y cancelar visitas de atención médica, recibir recordatorios y obtener información a través de campañas de salud. Al mismo tiempo, los centros de salud pueden conocer los datos de sus pacientes y la administración pública obtiene mayor trazabilidad y seguimiento.

Desde hace seis años, HoraSalud ha venido confiado en TrustLaw, el programa de asesoría pro bono de la Fundación Thomson Reuters, para lograr sus objetivos en un contexto de recursos limitados y falta de conocimiento legal. De este modo, desde 2016, TrustLaw ha facilitado el acercamiento con distintas firmas legales de prestigio que han colaborado en diversas etapas del desarrollo de esta herramienta.

Así, a través de TrustLaw, HoraSalud ha obtenido la asistencia de las firmas Cariola Diez Perez-Cotapos & Cia. Ltda., en la redacción de sus contratos de trabajo y Dechert LLP, en la modificación de sus estatutos. ECIJA ha contribuido en la elaboración de contratos de servicios, y Carey ha brindado asesoría regulatoria aplicable a la atención medica domiciliaria y telefónica. Otras firmas de gran reconocimiento ofrecieron su apoyo en el registro de la marca, asesoría sobre propiedad intelectual y licencias del producto, redacción de un contrato de desarrollo de software, uno de compraventa de acciones y otro de confidencialidad, así como los términos y condiciones y una política de privacidad de datos para su sitio web. En 2020, Ferrada Neheme brindó asesoría regulatoria sobre los requisitos legales para brindar servicios de telemedicina durante la pandemia ocasionada por el COVID-19 y, actualmente, ObradorDigital SpA se encuentra asistiendo a la empresa social para lograr una mayor protección de su marca.

El impacto de este tipo de aplicaciones en la sociedad, así como los aportes de las firmas legales expertas, es fundamental. Esta iniciativa ha facilitado el acceso a la salud pública a