ReTHUS vs REPS in Colombia: How to Verify the Doctor and the Facility

Two registries, two questions

People researching treatment in Colombia often hear that you should "check ReTHUS and REPS" as if they were one step. They aren't. They're maintained for different purposes, cover different things and fail in different ways.

ReTHUS: the person

According to Colombia's Ministry of Health and Social Protection, ReTHUS records health workers who meet the requirements set by Ley 1164 de 2007. Being registered means the person is authorized to practice their health profession or occupation. The registry also records sanctions reported by ethics-disciplinary tribunals and other competent authorities.

Registration isn't done by the Ministry alone. Depending on the profession and region, health workers register through professional colleges with delegated public functions, Bogotá's district health secretariat, or departmental health secretariats. The Ministry issued Circular 36 de 2019 to remind health workers and institutions of the duty to register and keep records up to date.

How to use it

• Ask the doctor or clinic for the doctor's full name and identification number. The public search on the Ministry's SISPRO platform works by ID number.
• Confirm the name in the result matches the name on your quote and consent paperwork.
• Look at the profession and any specialty shown, and check that they fit your procedure. If a specialty isn't shown, ask how the specialist training can be checked. Don't assume.
• For medicine, dentistry and nursing, the Ministry says the public search can show whether the professional has been sanctioned by ethics-disciplinary tribunals. Note anything you see and ask about it.
• Repeat the check for anyone else with a critical role, especially whoever gives anesthesia or sedation.

If the search doesn't work as expected, the Ministry lists a support email (soportepisis@minsalud.gov.co) for questions about the system.

REPS: the provider, the site and the service

A Ministry of Health characterization study of the Registro Especial de Prestadores describes REPS as the database, kept by departmental and district health entities, where enabled health-service providers are registered. The Ministry consolidates it. The study explains that providers self-assess their compliance with the enablement ("habilitación") conditions and register. Once listed, they can provide services within Colombia's health system. The document cites Resolución 2003 de 2014 for the registration procedure, and uses 2016 data. Rules are updated over time, so check the Ministry's site for the norm currently in force.

The same study shows the kind of information REPS holds:

• Enabled services, grouped into categories such as inpatient, surgical, outpatient consultation and emergency
• Complexity level of services: low, medium or high
• Modality: intramural, extramural or telemedicine
• Installed capacity: beds, ambulances, and procedure, operating and delivery rooms

How to use it

1. Get the provider's legal name and the exact address where you'll be treated. A brand name on Instagram is not enough.
2. Find the provider in REPS. Then find the specific sede (site) at that address. Large groups can have many sites with different services.
3. Check that the service your procedure needs is enabled at that site. Surgery booked at a site that only lists consultation services is a mismatch to raise.
4. Look at installed capacity. Does the site list operating rooms? If your procedure may need an overnight stay, does it list beds?
5. Save screenshots with the date.

Putting the two together

The checks only become powerful when you connect them. A well-registered surgeon at an unregistered site is a problem. So is a fully enabled hospital where the "surgeon" turns out not to be registered for that specialty. Here's an illustrative example of how the two can disagree:

Illustrative scenario: A patient checks the surgeon in ReTHUS and finds a clear record. The quote names a clinic in a busy neighborhood. In REPS, the provider's main site is listed with surgical services, but the address on the quote matches a second site that shows only outpatient consultation. Nothing here proves wrongdoing. The clinic may have recently moved, or the surgery may happen at the main site. But the patient now has a precise, fair question to ask in writing: "At which registered site will my operation take place?"

What neither registry can tell you

Registration shows that the legal requirements were met at the time of the record. It's not a quality rating. Neither registry tells you how often a surgeon performs your exact operation, what their complication rates are, or how a facility responds when something goes wrong. The CDC Yellow Book (2026) makes the same point about international accreditation: it doesn't guarantee a good outcome. For what accreditation adds on top of the registries, see what hospital accreditation proves and what it does not.

Think of ReTHUS and REPS as the minimum, not the finish line. After them come the questions about experience, anesthesia, emergency backup and follow-up. For a step-by-step pre-payment routine in Colombia, see how to verify a doctor or clinic in Colombia before you pay.

How to raise a mismatch politely

Finding a discrepancy can feel confrontational, especially if you've already built a good rapport with the clinic. Keep it factual and write it down. A short message works best:

• State what you searched and when: "On October 2 I searched REPS for the provider named on my quote."
• State what you found: "I found the main site listed with surgical services, but not the address on my quote."
• Ask one clear question: "Could you confirm the registered site where my procedure will take place?"

A professional provider will answer this kind of question routinely, and often quickly. A vague reply, a change of subject, or pressure to pay before answering tells you more than the registry did. Keep the exchange with your verification screenshots. If the answer resolves the issue, run the search again to confirm it yourself rather than relying on the explanation.

Common mistakes

• Checking only the doctor. The facility decides the operating environment and the emergency resources.
• Checking the provider but not the site. Services are enabled at specific locations.
• Trusting a screenshot the clinic sends. Run the search yourself.
• Checking once, months early. Check again shortly before you travel.