SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico
Four hospitals in Puerto Rico will begin implanting a Florida.m.ade microchip the size of a rice grain in patients who suffer from illnesses that cause memory loss, like Alzheimer's disease, a newspaper reported Sunday.

The hospitals will start using the microchip, made by the Delray Beach, Fla.-based Verichip Corp., in August, according to El Nuevo Dia. It is inserted in the forearm, costs $200 and is voluntary.

"It is a way to offer an additional service because the chip it going to be used on a population that has memory problems ... or great health problems," said Nelson Martinez, coordinator of operations for Hostos Medical Services.

VeriChip is the only company with U.S. federal approval to implant such chips in people. The company has implanted more than 2,500 people worldwide with chips that give hospitals access to their identification, which is used to retrieve medical information from an Internet database.

In February, a Cincinnati surveillance equipment company became the first U.S. business to allow employees who voluntarily got chip implants to use them to enter secure rooms. Some employees in the Mexico attorney general's office have also been implanted with chips for this use.