What happens if a clinic doesn't pay a SUSALUD fine?

The starting point: the fine has to be final

Before talking about coercive collection, it helps to separate two moments: when SUSALUD first notifies a fine (which can still be appealed) and when that fine becomes final — meaning no further administrative appeal is available, either because the appeal window expired or because a filed appeal was already resolved at the last administrative instance (normally SUSALUD’s own Tribunal).

All payment-deadline counting starts at that second moment, not the first. A clinic with a pending appeal isn’t, technically, in default — it’s still within the legal window for its case to be resolved.

The 15-business-day deadline to pay

Decreto Supremo N.° 031-2014-SA, which approved SUSALUD’s Infractions and Sanctions Regulation, states in Article 28 that fines must be paid within fifteen (15) business days after the sanction resolution becomes final. That’s a comparatively short window versus some other Peruvian administrative procedures, though counting in business days rather than calendar days gives a bit more real breathing room.

It’s worth being upfront about this source’s limitation: this article could not be verified by opening the official PDF published by El Peruano or SUSALUD directly, since both domains returned access errors (403 and 418) during research for this piece. Two independent private sources — El Perú Legal and an academic copy hosted on Studocu/vLex — do quote exactly the same article text, which gives a reasonable level of confidence, though it’s not the same as reading the official source itself.

What happens the moment the deadline lapses: automatic interest

That same Article 28 states that once the 15-business-day deadline expires, “without any demand being necessary,” legal interest starts accruing automatically until the date the fine is actually paid. In practice, SUSALUD doesn’t have to send a follow-up letter or reminder — the mere passage of time generates the interest.

This punishes clinics that try to stall payment without formally challenging the fine: every day past the deadline the debt grows a little more, regardless of whether SUSALUD has already started the coercive collection process.

Does SUSALUD run its own coercive-collection system?

This was the central question worth asking before writing this piece, since it isn’t always obvious whether a specialized regulator like SUSALUD follows its own collection rulebook or simply defaults to the general law.

The answer, per Article 30 of the same Decreto Supremo N.° 031-2014-SA, is that collection management of fines from the sanctioning procedure (PAS), “including coercive execution actions,” is carried out, controlled and reported by SUSALUD’s own General Administration Office (Oficina General de Administración, OGA). In other words: SUSALUD does have its own internal unit handling collection, but the legal framework that unit follows to seize assets is the same one used by every Peruvian public entity — Law N.° 26979, the Coercive Execution Procedure Law.

This detail was corroborated by two independent private sources quoting identical text for Article 30, though it also could not be confirmed by opening the official document directly.

How coercive execution works under Law 26979

Once SUSALUD’s OGA decides to open coercive collection, the process follows Law 26979’s general rules — which could be read directly from its official copy hosted on SUTRAN’s site (another Peruvian public entity that also applies this same law). Key points:

• The coercive-collection executor notifies a Resolución de Ejecución Coactiva (Coercive Execution Resolution), which grants a further seven (7) business days to pay before any seizure measures can be ordered (Art. 14).
• Once that window lapses, the executor can order any of the seizure measures (“medidas cautelares”) listed in Article 33, including:
  • Embargo en forma de retención: freezing the clinic’s bank accounts, funds or securities.
  • Embargo en forma de inscripción: registering a lien in Public Registries over recordable assets, like company-owned real estate or vehicles.
  • Embargo en forma de depósito o secuestro conservativo: seizing movable property at the facility.
  • Embargo en forma de intervención: intervening in the business’s revenue collection, information systems, or administration.
• Law 26979 applies to “all entities of the Public Administration” (Art. 1) that have been granted coercive-collection authority by an express rule, and SUSALUD fits that category through its own sanctioning regulation.

Is there an installment plan for the fine?

No provision was found in Decreto Supremo N.° 031-2014-SA allowing a SUSALUD fine to be paid in installments, unlike agencies such as Sunafil or Indecopi, which have recognized fraccionamiento procedures published in their TUPA (their catalog of administrative procedures). That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s impossible to request one through general administrative channels — Law 26979 does generally contemplate a “resolution granting an extension and/or installment payment” as grounds to suspend a coercive procedure — but there’s no evidence SUSALUD has a specific, published channel for it. A clinic wanting to explore this should raise it directly with SUSALUD’s OGA before the fine becomes final.

The myth of “automatic” loss of the health registration

One of the most common fears among clinic administrators is that not paying a SUSALUD fine will automatically lead to losing RENIPRESS (Registro Nacional de Instituciones Prestadoras de Servicios de Salud) registration or the facility’s operating license. Research for this piece found no rule establishing that direct link.

What does exist, per the RENIPRESS regulation (Resolución N.° 004-2021-SUSALUD/S), is that a facility can face a “cierre temporal de oficio” (temporary ex officio closure) or “baja definitiva de oficio” (definitive ex officio deregistration) when it’s subject to a safety measure or a closure sanction within the sanctioning procedure itself — but that consequence is tied to the type of infraction committed (for example, endangering a patient’s life), not to simply not having paid the monetary fine yet. These are two separate consequences of the same sanctioning process, and they shouldn’t be conflated.

What to do if your clinic received a SUSALUD fine

If you handle administration for a health facility and received a fine notice, the priority is acting within the appeal windows before the resolution becomes final, since once it’s final the regulation doesn’t appear — as far as could be verified — to offer any installment escape valve. Check with legal counsel whether there are grounds to appeal, and if you decide not to appeal or lose the appeal, prioritize payment within the 15 business days to avoid both automatic interest and the opening of a coercive-collection file that can lead to seizures.

Summary of what’s known and what isn’t

What can be stated with reasonable confidence: SUSALUD does have its own Infractions and Sanctions Regulation (DS 031-2014-SA), it does assign collection of its fines to its own General Administration Office, and that coercive collection follows the general Law 26979 framework, with its deadlines and seizure measures. What could not be verified directly against the official source: the exact text of Articles 28, 30 and 44 of SUSALUD’s regulation, due to access blocks on the official domains encountered during research. And what there’s simply no evidence for: any rule tying non-payment of a fine to automatic loss of a facility’s health registration.