Colombia's Supreme Court orders 60‑day plan for Nueva EPS amid health‑rights violations

The Colombian Supreme Court of Justice gave the health sector 60 days to devise a comprehensive plan that addresses the massive non‑compliance with tutela rulings by Nueva EPS, a public health insurer with the country’s largest enrollee base. The order, prompted by a tutela filed by former regional manager Salomé Henao González, requires the plan to prioritize patients in grave or imminent risk and groups afforded special constitutional protection, such as children, seniors and people with disabilities.

Subsequent court actions have penalised officials of Nueva EPS for contempt of tutela orders. The circuit court in Aguadas upheld three days of arrest and significant fines for interventor Jorge Iván Ospina and regional manager Luis Carlos Velandía after they failed to provide integral care to a child with hydrocephalus and congenital toxoplasmosis. The Procuraduría General de la Nación has also issued preventive requirements to Nueva EPS regional offices in Tolima, demanding proof that a woman with severe cerebral palsy receives continuous, comprehensive care.

These measures reflect heightened judicial and regulatory pressure on Nueva EPS to resolve systemic financial and administrative failures that have jeopardized the right to health for thousands of Colombians.