The anatomy
What's actually inside an executive checkup package?
Package menus love vague words like 'premium wellness screen.' Here's the line-by-line anatomy of the three real tiers — what each test does, what's padding, and what's worth adding.
Every hospital's package menu uses its own names — Platinum, Elite, Prestige — but underneath, checkup packages worldwide assemble from the same parts bin. Learn the parts and you can read any menu in any country, compare honestly, and spot padding at a glance.
Tier 1: the basic screen ($150–$400 in Colombia)
The foundation everything builds on: physician consultation and history; core blood panel (complete blood count, comprehensive metabolic panel, lipid profile, fasting glucose and HbA1c, thyroid TSH); urinalysis; resting ECG; blood pressure and body metrics. What it answers: the big silent numbers — cholesterol, blood sugar, kidney and liver function, thyroid. For a healthy 30-something establishing baselines, this tier honestly suffices.
Tier 2: the executive screen ($500–$1,200)
Everything above, plus the imaging and senses layer: chest X-ray; abdominal ultrasound (liver, gallbladder, kidneys, pancreas); vision and hearing screening; commonly a stress ECG; sex-specific additions (PSA discussion and testing for men; Pap/HPV and breast exam or mammography for women, age-appropriate); and a closing results consultation with written report. What it adds: organs you can see, hearts under load, and the cancer-screening on-ramps. This is the tier most travelers should anchor on, and the one our cost tables headline.
Tier 3: comprehensive ($1,200–$2,800)
The executive screen plus targeted heavy machinery: cardiac depth (echocardiogram, calcium score or cardiac CT where indicated); colonoscopy for the 45+ crowd; expanded cancer screening (dermatologic exam, low-dose chest CT for qualifying smokers); bone densitometry where age-appropriate; and specialist consults reviewing each domain. Who it's for: 45+, meaningful family history, years since last real screening — or anyone consolidating a decade of postponed medicine into one trip.
Reading a menu like a skeptic
- Padding tells: vitamin panels for the asymptomatic, "wellness" IV add-ons, tumor-marker batteries sold to average-risk patients (most guideline bodies don't support broad tumor-marker screening), and anything the package can't name in plain clinical words.
- Value tells: named tests, named physician time (how many consults, which specialties), written-report language, and an itemized price. Typical 2026 ranges above are compiled figures, never quotes — the itemized quote is the hospital's job.
- The question that sorts everything: "Which physician reviews my assembled results, and when?" A great package is organized around that answer; a padded one hopes you won't ask. (Then check that physician in the public ReTHUS registry — walkthrough here.)
Send us a menu, get a translation
Considering a specific package — ours or anyone's? Send it over and we'll mark what's substance, what's padding, and what's missing for your age.
Chat on WhatsAppTiming the whole thing: the results timeline and the 3-day Medellín playbook.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between executive and comprehensive checkups?
Executive tiers add imaging (chest X-ray, abdominal ultrasound), stress ECG, and sex-specific screening to the basic blood panel. Comprehensive tiers add cardiac depth (echo, calcium score), colonoscopy, expanded cancer screening, and specialist consults — built for 45+ travelers and meaningful risk histories.
Are tumor marker panels worth adding to a checkup?
For average-risk, asymptomatic people, most guideline bodies don't support broad tumor-marker screening — batteries of them in a package menu are usually padding. Targeted markers (like PSA, discussed with a physician) are the exception, not the rule.
Which checkup tier should I get?
Healthy and under 40 establishing baselines: basic often suffices. Most travelers: executive. Over 45, family history, or years since real screening: comprehensive — the consolidation is the point of the trip.
All prices on this page are typical 2026 ranges compiled from published sources — not quotes or guarantees. Confirm current pricing directly with providers. This article is information, not medical advice; screening decisions belong with you and a licensed physician. JCI accreditation is cited at the hospital level; verify any Colombian physician via the government's ReTHUS registry at rethus.gov.co.