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# The Mandatory Quality Assurance System (SOGC)

- System and programme

The SOGC sets health care quality rules: minimum requirements to offer services, audits to improve, voluntary accreditation and indicators.

Updated Nov 13, 2026

## Key points

- Five quality characteristics: accessibility, timeliness, safety, appropriateness and continuity.
- Licensing: mandatory minimum conditions of technological and scientific capacity, financial sufficiency and technical-administrative capacity; without licensing a service cannot be offered.
- The provider self-assesses, registers in the Special Register of Providers (REPS) with the departmental or district secretariat, and the secretariat verifies compliance.
- Licensing standards (Resolution 3100 of 2019 and its amendments): staff, infrastructure, equipment, medicines and devices, priority processes, medical records, and interdependence of services.
- PAMEC: audit for quality improvement; it aims above the basic licensing level, guided by accreditation standards.
- Accreditation: a voluntary, periodic process that verifies higher levels of quality.

On this page

- The basics Key points
- What it is
- How it is organised
- Worked example
- Components of the SOGCS
- Markers
- In practice
- Reference norms
- Memory aid

- Study Test yourself

- Connections Connections

## What it is

The Mandatory Health Care Quality Assurance System (SOGCS) is the set of institutions, rules, requirements, mechanisms and processes the sector uses to create, maintain and improve the quality of services. Decree 1011 of 2006 created it, now compiled in Decree 780 of 2016, and it applies to providers, EPSs, adapted entities, prepaid medicine companies and health secretariats. It has four components: licensing (habilitación), audit for quality improvement (PAMEC), accreditation, and the information system for quality.

## How it is organised

- Ministry of Health: issues quality rules and standards and updates them progressively.
- National Superintendency of Health: inspection, oversight and control.
- Departmental and district secretariats: register providers in REPS and verify licensing.
- Providers and EPSs: meet the standards, audit their own quality and report the data the system requires.

## Worked example

- A made-up clinic chooses, in its PAMEC, to improve the timeliness of general practice appointments.
- In March it measures 400 appointments; the days between request and appointment add up to 2 000 days.
- Mean waiting time = 2 000 / 400 = 5 days.
- The internal target is 3 days: an extra afternoon clinic opens and appointments are confirmed by text message.
- In June, 420 appointments add up to 1 260 days: 1 260 / 420 = 3 days.
- Reading: the indicator fell from 5 to 3 days and met the target; the audit cycle moves on to another priority process.

## Components of the SOGCS

| Component | Mandatory? | Aim | Who verifies |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Licensing | Yes | Minimum conditions to offer a service | Departmental or district secretariat |
| PAMEC (audit) | Yes | Improve above the minimum | The entity itself, overseen by Supersalud |
| Accreditation | No, voluntary | Higher levels of quality | Accrediting body |
| Information for quality | Yes | Indicators to compare and choose | Ministry of Health |

## Markers

- SOGCS
- Licensing
- REPS
- PAMEC
- Accreditation

## In practice

- If a service fails a standard (for example, a required piece of equipment is missing), it cannot be offered until fixed.
- A complete, legible medical record is a licensing standard, not only an ethical duty.
- PAMEC picks priority processes, such as appointment timeliness or guideline adherence, and tracks them over time.

## Reference norms

- Decree 780 of 2016, book 2, part 5, title 1: SOGCS; compiles Decree 1011 of 2006 and Decree 903 of 2014 (accreditation).
- Resolution 3100 of 2019: procedures and conditions for registering providers and licensing services, with its manual; amended by later norms, including Resolutions 544 of 2023 and 465 of 2025.
- Law 1438 of 2011, article 11: service networks are licensed within the SOGC.

## Memory aid

Licensing is the floor, auditing is the climb, accreditation is the summit; information for quality measures the whole route.

## Test yourself

Think of the answer, then tap the question to see it.

## What are the four components of the SOGCS?

The Single Licensing System, the audit for quality improvement (PAMEC), the Single Accreditation System and the information system for quality.

## Which SOGCS component is voluntary?

Accreditation, which periodically verifies higher levels of quality.

## What are the five quality characteristics of the SOGCS?

Accessibility, timeliness, safety, appropriateness and continuity.

## Which norm sets the current licensing conditions for health services?

Resolution 3100 of 2019 of the Ministry of Health, with later amendments.

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## Connections

## Related 6

- [Quality of care: structure, process and outcome](https://durgical.com/en/epidemiology/quality-of-care-structure-process-and-outcome/)
- [Patient safety and adverse events](https://durgical.com/en/epidemiology/patient-safety-and-adverse-events/)
- [EPS and IPS (insurers and providers)](https://durgical.com/en/epidemiology/eps-and-ips/)
- [Colombia's General System of Social Security in Health (SGSSS)](https://durgical.com/en/epidemiology/colombia-s-general-system-of-social-security-in-health/)
- [Health information systems in Colombia: SISPRO, RIPS, RUAF](https://durgical.com/en/epidemiology/health-information-systems-in-colombia-sispro-rips-ruaf/)
- [Clinical practice guidelines](https://durgical.com/en/epidemiology/clinical-practice-guidelines/)

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Educational content on epidemiological and statistical methods; the examples use made-up numbers to teach the calculation. Not a clinical or legal guide: current Colombian rules are in the official sources.

Sources: [Decreto 780 de 2016 Sector Salud y Protección Social](https://www.funcionpublica.gov.co/eva/gestornormativo/norma.php?i=77813) (Departamento Administrativo de la Función Pública, Colombia (Gestor Normativo), 2016); [Compilación Jurídica SuperSalud - Resolución 3100 de 2019 MSPS](https://normograma.supersalud.gov.co/compilacion/docs/resolucion_minsaludps_3100_2019.htm) (Superintendencia Nacional de Salud, Colombia, 2019); [Ley 1438 de 2011](https://www.funcionpublica.gov.co/eva/gestornormativo/norma.php?i=41355) (Departamento Administrativo de la Función Pública, Colombia (Gestor Normativo), 2011).

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