Colombia adopts new technologies to facilitate access to health information

01/06/2016

Colombia adopts new technologies to facilitate access to health information

FIIAPP supports Colombia's health ministry through a project financed by the European Commission, ACTUE-Colombia, in the development of an app for facilitating health-related operations and consultations.
Presentation of the app in Colombia. Photo: Herminio Ruiz, Ministry Photographer.
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The International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (FIIAPP), through the ACTUE-Colombia project, supported the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of Colombia in the development of a mobile application for providing access to health information.

This tool, which users can download to their mobile devices, aims to help Colombians learn the prices of medicines, find out the best Service Provider Companies (EPS) and Service Provider Institutes (IPS), and rate the care received from these companies.

Additionally, users will be able get information on a range of diseases, thereby guaranteeing the right of access to information through technology.

The heads of Colombia’s Health and Social Protection and Information Technology ministries, in collaboration with the Superintendent of Health, unveiled the tool to citizens. It was created to promote transparency, provide access to public information, contribute to decision-making, and foster dialogue and trust among citizens, the ministry, and the superintendency of health.

The tool, called ClicSalud, has the following features:

App home page
1. ‘Elijo saber’ (‘I Want to Know’) contains information about the prices of the different brands of the same medicine (4,285 medicines, representing 46% of sales in pharmacies), as well as the quality of the country’s different EPS and IPS companies.
1. ‘Tu voz en el sistema’ (‘Your Voice in the System’), which allows people to rate care services, request information, and process requests, complaints, and claims.
2. ‘¿Sabías qué…?’ (‘Did You Know?’), providing news about the health system, information on the rights and responsibilities of people covered by the social security system, and recommendations related to public health.
The application is free of charge and available for both the iOS and Android operating systems.

The ACTUE-Colombia project, financed by the European Union, continues to provide technical support to the Ministry of Health and Social Protection (MSPS) in consolidating its Action Plan, which will be implemented in the next two years, and in strengthening the ministry through the launch of various tools to promote transparency in drug prices, such as the Termómetro de Precios (price thermometer) and the ClicSalud application.