Seventeen public hospital managers in Antioquia have suspended outpatient and external consultation services for members of Coosalud EPS [1].
The move threatens healthcare access for more than 460,000 Coosalud affiliates in the region [1]. Hospitals said the suspension is necessary because the insurer has failed to pay for services, leaving facilities unable to pay their own providers.
Financial disputes have reached a critical point in Medellín, where the Hospital General de Medellín is owed nearly 15 billion pesos [3]. Across the broader Antioquia department, the total debt owed by Coosalud EPS to public hospitals is estimated at nearly 300 billion pesos [1].
At the Hospital Universitario Alma Mater, the crisis has led to the suspension of services from 24 specialists [2]. This disruption follows a pattern of financial instability within the regional health system, a situation that has forced administrators to choose between operational solvency and patient care.
While Coosalud faces these suspensions, other insurers have attempted to resolve similar disputes. The Nueva EPS recently began disbursements of 10.8 billion pesos to the Universidad Alma Mater to reactivate services [4].
Hospital managers said the current lack of payment from Coosalud makes it impossible to maintain standard operations. The suspension targets ambulatory services and external appointments, though emergency care typically remains protected under Colombian law.
“Seventeen public hospital managers in Antioquia have suspended outpatient and external consultation services.”
This suspension highlights a systemic liquidity crisis within Colombia's healthcare payment model, where public providers are left vulnerable to the financial instability of private insurance entities (EPS). When insurers fail to remit payments, the resulting 'domino effect' forces public hospitals to cut specialized care, shifting the burden of the financial deficit directly onto hundreds of thousands of patients.
