Colombia updates access to technologies not funded by the UPC

The Ministry of Health and Social Protection issued Resolution 001816 of 2026 (August 6), published in the Official Gazette number 53,618 on Monday, September 7, 2026, which updates the procedures for access, prescription, supply, verification, control, payment, and information analysis of health technologies and complementary services not financed with resources from the Capitation Payment Unit (UPC). The regulation, signed by Minister Guillermo Alfonso Jaramillo Martínez, is effective from its issuance and repeals Resolutions 740 of 2024 and 2622 of 2024 once the three-month transition period ends.

The resolution consolidates into a single administrative act the provisions regarding the technological tool Mipres, which operates on the Sispro platform, and responds to the orders of the Constitutional Court in the follow-up to Judgment T-760 of 2008 (twenty-third order) and Order 1006 of 2025, which declared a medium level of compliance and warned about deficiencies in the operation of the Health Professional Boards (JPS). It also incorporates the premises of Judgment C-313 of 2014 for the exceptional prescription of excluded technologies.

Exceptional prescription in the contributory regime

The main novelty is the enabling of the exceptional prescription of health technologies expressly excluded for affiliates of the Contributory Regime, a functionality that Resolution 740 of 2024 had only extended to the Subsidized Regime. The health professional may prescribe exceptionally when two conditions are met concurrently:

• That the absence of the drug or procedure leads to the threat or violation of the patient’s rights to life or physical integrity.
• That there is no other medication or treatment within the benefit plan that replaces the excluded one with the same level of effectiveness.

The prescription must be supported in the clinical history and in the enabled fields in Mipres, with a signed informed consent. Excluded technologies will be recognized and paid through the reimbursement mechanism charged to the Administrator of the Resources of the General Social Security System in Health (ADRES).

Rationalization of the Health Professional Boards

The regulation adjusts the scope of the Health Professional Boards (JPS), which must be formed in each health service provider institution (IPS) with at least three professionals registered in Rethus, in an odd number and with at least one “peer” professional of the prescriber. Among the changes, the following stand out:

• Medications with Uses Not Included in the Sanitary Registry (UNIRS) previously evaluated and approved by Invima will no longer require Board approval, eliminating technical duplications.
• The Board will issue a single annual concept for successive prescriptions, which cannot be for an indefinite period.
• Prescriptions for diapers up to 120 units per month and APMEs for orphan diseases, HIV, cancer in palliative care, or stage V chronic kidney disease will not require Board analysis.
• IPS may not charge for the formation and operation of their boards.

Deadlines and supply guarantee

The resolution sets terms for the Boards’ decisions and the supply guarantee: three calendar days for prioritized outpatient prescriptions, emergencies, or hospitalization; five days for non-prioritized outpatient prescriptions; and twenty-four hours for notification to the affiliate. Effective supply must be guaranteed within five days for non-prioritized outpatient services and within twenty-four hours for prioritized services, hospitalization, and emergencies. The prescription number generated by Mipres will be valid for successive deliveries for up to one year.

The regulation establishes a three-month transition period for the operational adjustment of the Mipres tool, during which active prescriptions will maintain their validity and EPS, adapted entities, IPS, and providers must guarantee the interoperability of their systems and the continuity of ongoing treatments.

Source: Official Gazette of the Republic of Colombia, number 53,618, Monday, September 7, 2026, section I (official reference: Resolution 001816 of 2026, August 6).