This dissertation is a study on the organization form of the Brazilian Unified Health System -Sistema nico de Sade (SUS) that, according to article 198 of the Brazilian Federal Constitution, is a system of federative interdependence managed by autonomous entities, as set forth under article 18 of such Constitution. It adopts an interdisciplinary approach, with emphasis in the legal standpoint and interpretation of the major guidelines of the Principles embedded in the Constitution and the protection of the Basic Human right to Health. There is an initial focus on the conceptual framework of Federalism and the traditions where the Brazilian Model got its background. The Brazilian State and its organization form and structure for the Health are scrutinized: the role of the Federal State, its centralistic imposition and influence on SUS' management. The study analyses how the characteristics of federative interdependence and mutual relationship, are harmed by the strong presence of central authority, the Federal Government, through the Brazilian Health Ministry. Concerning the SUS, the federal centralism is materialized through the form of its financing, since a large amount of resources that supports it is assigned by the federal Government to programs and projects determined by federal scope, prevailing over a federal or decentralized system. That situation has a strong impact on SUS' organization, defining its priorities rather by the sources of its financing than by global health planning, that should have as its foundation the peoples need for health. The interdependence and autonomy require solutions that reaches a compromise between these contradictions, assuring to SUS a legal and administrative structure that allow overcoming its contradictions, in order to bring together an efficient system. To achieve this purpose, some ideas are presented, ideas that attempt to reconcile all required elements to a management that guarantees to citizens the right to health.
The article aimed to analyze the impacts of earmarking revenues and conditional transfers on the supply of health financing in Brazil. After analyzing the role of these Federal regulation mechanisms on decentralized healthcare administration, the article verified the effects on total expenditure in health and disaggregated by level of government, evaluated whether transfers by the Unified National Health System (SUS) were consistent with the evolution in the decentralized supply, and measured the inequalities in per capital health spending by municipalities. The conclusions showed the complementary relationship between earmarking revenues and conditional transfers according to supply, which: (1) increased the share of State and Municipal governments in health financing; (2) provided incentives for the decentralization of primary care according to Federal guidelines; and (3) reduced the inequalities between municipalities in per capita health expenditures.
Célia Regina Pierantoni, Ana Cláudia Pinheiro Garcia
BACKGROUND: The Brazilian health reform process, following the establishment of the Unified Health System (SUS), has had a strong emphasis on decentralization, with a special focus on financing, management and inter-managerial agreements. Brazil is a federal country and the Ministry of Health (MoH), through the Secretary of Labour Management and Health Education, is responsible for establishing national policy guidelines for health labour management, and also for implementing strategies for the decentralization of management of labour and education in the federal states. This paper assesses whether the process of decentralizing human resources for health (HRH) management and organization to the level of the state and municipal health departments has involved investments in technical, political and financial resources at the national level. METHODS: The research methods used comprise a survey of HRH managers of states and major municipalities (including capitals) and focus groups with these HRH managers - all by geographic region. The results were obtained by combining survey and focus group data, and also through triangulation with the results of previous research. RESULTS: The results of this evaluation showed the evolution policy, previously restricted to the field of 'personnel administration', now expanded to a conceptual model for health labour management and education-- identifying progress, setbacks, critical issues and challenges for the consolidation of the decentralized model for HRH management. The results showed that 76.3% of the health departments have an HRH unit. It was observed that 63.2% have an HRH information system. However, in most health departments, the HRH unit uses only the payroll and administrative records as data sources. Concerning education in health, 67.6% of the HRH managers mentioned existing cooperation with educational and teaching institutions for training and/or specialization of health workers. Among them, specialization courses account for 61.4% and short courses for 56.1%. CONCLUSIONS: Due to decentralization, the HRH area has been restructured and policies beyond traditional administrative activities have been developed. However, twenty years on from the establishment of the SUS, there remains a low level of institutionalization in the HRH area, despite recent efforts of the MoH.
En este trabajo se describe el sistema de salud de Brasil, que está compuesto por un sector público que cubre alrededor de 75% de la población y un creciente sector privado que ofrece atención a la salud al restante 25% de los brasileños. El sector público está constituido por el Sistema Único de Salud (SUS) y su financiamiento proviene de impuestos generales y contribuciones sociales recaudadas por los tres niveles de gobierno (federal, estatal y municipal). El SUS presta servicios de manera descentralizada a través de sus redes de clínicas, hospitales y otro tipo de instalaciones, y a través de contratos con establecimientos privados. El SUS es además responsable de la coordinación del sector público. El sector privado está conformado por un sistema de esquemas de aseguramiento conocido como Salud Suplementaria financiado con recursos de las empresas y/o las familias: la medicina de grupo (empresas y familias), las cooperativas médicas, los llamados Planes Autoadministrados (empresas) y los planes de seguros de salud individuales. También existen consultorios, hospitales, clínicas y laboratorios privados que funcionan sobre la base de pagos de bolsillo, que utilizan sobre todo la población de mayores ingresos. En este trabajo se analizan los recursos con los que cuenta el sistema, las actividades de rectoría que se desarrollan y las innovaciones más recientemente implantadas, incluyendo el Programa de Salud de la Familia y el Programa Más Salud.<br>This paper describes the Brazilian health system, which includes a public sector covering almost 75% of the population and an expanding private sector offering health services to the rest of the population. The public sector is organized around the Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) and it is financed with general taxes and social contributions collected by the three levels of government (federal, state and municipal). SUS provides health care through a decentralized network of clinics, hospitals and other establishments, as well as through contracts with private providers. SUS is also responsible for the coordination of the public sector. The private sector includes a system of insurance schemes known as Supplementary Health which is financed by employers and/or households: group medicine (companies and households), medical cooperatives, the so called Self-Administered Plans (companies) and individual insurance plans.The private sector also includes clinics, hospitals and laboratories offering services on out-of-pocket basis mostly used by the high-income population. This paper also describes the resources of the system, the stewardship activities developed by the Ministry of Health and other actors, and the most recent policy innovations implemented in Brazil, including the programs saúde da Familia and Mais Saúde.
This paper describes the Brazilian health system, which includes a public sector covering almost 75% of the population and an expanding private sector offering health services to the rest of the population. The public sector is organized around the Sistema Unico de Saude (SUS) and it is financed with general taxes and social contributions collected by the three levels of government (federal, state and municipal). SUS provides health care through a decentralized network of clinics, hospitals and other establishments, as well as through contracts with private providers. SUS is also responsible for the coordination of the public sector. The private sector includes a system of insurance schemes known as Supplementary Health which is financed by employers and/or households: group medicine (companies and households), medical cooperatives, the so called Self-Administered Plans (companies) and individual insurance plans. The private sector also includes clinics, hospitals and laboratories offering services on out-of-pocket basis mostly used by the high-income population. This paper also describes the resources of the system, the stewardship activities developed by the Ministry of Health and other actors, and the most recent policy innovations implemented in Brazil, including the programs saude da Familia and Mais Saude.
This paper describes the Brazilian health system, which includes a public sector covering almost 75% of the population and an expanding private sector offering health services to the rest of the population. The public sector is organized around the Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) and it is financed with general taxes and social contributions collected by the three levels of government (federal, state and municipal). SUS provides health care through a decentralized network of clinics, hospitals and other establishments, as well as through contracts with private providers. SUS is also responsible for the coordination of the public sector. The private sector includes a system of insurance schemes known as Supplementary Health which is financed by employers and/or households: group medicine (companies and households), medical cooperatives, the so called Self-Administered Plans (companies) and individual insurance plans.The private sector also includes clinics, hospitals and laboratories offering services on out-of-pocket basis mostly used by the high-income population. This paper also describes the resources of the system, the stewardship activities developed by the Ministry of Health and other actors, and the most recent policy innovations implemented in Brazil, including the programs saúde da Familia and Mais Saúde.
Luciane Cristina Feltrin de Oliveira, Marluce Maria Araújo Assis, André Renê Barboni
This study of theoretical revision discuss the Pharmaceutical Assistance in the Basic Units of Health, rescuing briefly the history of the National Drug Policy, the mechanisms of financing in the process of health decentralization and Pharmaceutical Assistance on the Basic Attention to Health. The expansion of the population access to the health system has demanded changes on drug distribution in order to increase the coverage and at the same time to reduce costs. It was identified advances in legal and institutional structures: the management decentralization of actions on pharmaceutical assistance; the expansion of the population access to essential medicines; and the establishment of the pharmaceutical assistance in some cities. However, it still persists priority actions in relation to the financing and population coverage, in detriment of quality processes. The conclusion is that, many Brazilian cities has low availability and discontinuity of essential medicine offer; dispensation by workers without qualification; inadequate conditions of storage that compromise the quality of medicines; medicine prescription that does not belong to the National Reference of Essential Medicines; and problems related to the access of users to the pharmacotherapy.
Adenilda Maria Siqueira de Andrade, Alberice Maria Mendes, Cristiane S. Miguel Cabral de Vasconcelos, Maria Eliza da Mota Reinaux Paes Barreto
O Brasil vem redefinindo o perfil do seu sistema de saúde, reformulando papéis e funções de saúde pública na tentativa de construir responsabilidades locais. Este panorama originou um novo arranjo para o sistema municipal de saúde no qual busca-se a integralidade das ações de saúde a partir da dinâmica do financiamento. Trata-se de um estudo descritivo de base bibliográfica e documental. O estudo apresenta uma revisão sobre o processo da descentralização administrativa/financeira na saúde, sua repercussão no fortalecimento da atenção básica tendo a estratégia saúde da família como elemento propulsor da forte expansão observada nesse componente da atenção à saúde, bem como as conseqüências da descentralização na gestão dos trabalhadores de saúde. Discute o papel das Normas Operacionais do SUS, em especial da Norma Operacional Básica - NOB/96 com a implantação do Piso da Atenção Básica (PAB) como referencial para a ampliação dos investimentos na atenção básica, o papel relevante da Lei de Responsabilidade Fiscal que além de impor limites aos gastos, também estabelece diretrizes para a elaboração, execução e avaliação do orçamento público, e o Pacto pela Saúde firmado entre as três esferas de governo com a atenção voltada para os princípios e diretrizes articulados e integrados nos Pactos pela Vida, em Defesa do SUS e de Gestão. Destaca-se o forte papel indutor do nível federal de gestão do SUS, que através de mecanismos de financiamento reordena as ações e serviços de saúde no nível local
This paper analyzes the policy model of the Brazilian Ministry of Health from 1990 to 2002. The methodology included interviews with key actors in the national health policy, document review, and analysis of the Federal budget and official databases. The Brazilian Ministry of Health underwent major changes under the influence of the health reform agenda and the liberal State reform agenda prevailing in the 1990s, shaped by two movements: institutional unification of national policy control and political/administrative decentralization. The Federal role was diminished in terms of direct services provision, and there were changes in financing and regulation. The model in the late 1990s featured strong Federal induction of States and municipalities and the adoption of market regulation strategies. There is no record of a long-term planning effort, which favors distortions in the Federal intervention model and hinders solutions to structural problems in the Brazilian health system.
<abstract language="eng">The constitution of Brazil directs that the country’s health system, the Unified Health System (Sistema Único de Saúde), be politically and administratively decentralized. Nevertheless, handing over competencies, responsibilities, and resources to subnational levels, especially to municipal governments, has been a slow process, lasting almost two decades. Advances have been brought about by the Unified Health System, which, from a analytical perspective, is a public and universal system. Despite that, the decentralization process needs to overcome norms that keep all levels of management dependent on Brazil’s federal Government. The subnational levels have consistently faced difficulties in performing their macromanagement functions with autonomy, especially when it comes to financing and to the establishment or organization of health care networks. Boldness and responsibility will be needed to prevent Brazil’s health decentralization process from leading to fragmentation. New political agreements between different levels of government, with a reassignment of responsibilities and the enhancement of a culture of technical cooperation, are fundamental requisites to making the Unified Health System have a health policy that is truly public and universal.
The constitution of Brazil directs that the country's health system, the Unified Health System (Sistema Unico de Saúde), be politically and administratively decentralized. Nevertheless, handing over competencies, responsibilities, and resources to subnational levels, especially to municipal governments, has been a slow process, lasting almost two decades. Advances have been brought about by the Unified Health System, which, from a analytical perspective, is a public and universal system. Despite that, the decentralization process needs to overcome norms that keep all levels of management dependent on Brazil's federal Government. The subnational levels have consistently faced difficulties in performing their macromanagement functions with autonomy, especially when it comes to financing and to the establishment or organization of health care networks. Boldness and responsibility will be needed to prevent Brazil's health decentralization process from leading to fragmentation. New political agreements between different levels of government, with a reassignment of responsibilities and the enhancement of a culture of technical cooperation, are fundamental requisites to making the Unified Health System have a health policy that is truly public and universal.
Este é um trabalho sobre desenhos institucionais e seus resultados redistributivos, que toma como objeto de análise a política de saúde no Brasil. O modelo de descentralização do Sistema Único de Saúde – SUS –caracteriza-se por concentrar autoridade no governo federal, assim como financiar a política de saúde através de um sistema abrangente de transferências interregionais. Este sistema pretendeu, em período recente, acentuar seus objetivos redistributivos com a introdução do Piso da Atenção Básica – PAB, na Norma de Operação Básica – NOB98. Este trabalho pretende examinar a extensão em que um sistema descentralizado, cujo desenho institucional concentra autoridade no governo central para implementar políticas com finalidades redistributivas, logra reduzir as diferenças regionais no acesso aos serviços públicos. Para isto, testaremos inicialmente a extensão do processo de descentralização da política de saúde no Brasil, para em seguida analisarmos a extensão da equalização na provisão de serviços de saúde. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: política de saúde, descentralização, federalismo, desenhos institucionais, Brasil LOCAL CONDITIONANTS OF DECENTRALIZATION OF HEALTH POLICIES This paper is about institutional designs and ist redistributive results, and has as its object of analysis the Brazilian Health Policy. The decentralization model of the SUS – United Health System has as its characteristics to concentrate authority on the Federal governmet and financing the health policy through an ample system of interregional transferences. This system intended, in recent times, to increase its redistributive objectives with the intriduction of the PAB – Basic Attention Floor int the NOB98 – Basic Operation Procedure. This paper intends to examine the extension to which a decentralized system, which institutional design concentrates authority on the central government to enforce policies with redistributive intentions, achieves reduction of the regional differences in access to public services. To do this, we will initially test the extent of the decentralization process in Brazilian health policy, and after that we will analyse the extent of equalization on providing health services. KEY WORD: health policy; decentralization; federalism; institutional designs; Brazil. CONDITIONS LOCALES DE LA DECENTRALISATION DES POLITIQUES DE SANTE Cet article sur les schémas institutionnels et les résultas de leur redistribution a pour objet l’analyse de la politique de santé au Brésil. Le modèle de décentralisation du SUS est caractérisé par la concentration de l’autorité dans le gouvernement fédéral, ainsi que par le financement de la politique de santé par un vaste système de transferts interrégionaux. Ce système prétendait récemment souligner ses objectifs de redistribution grâce à l’introduction du PAB, à la NOB98. Cet article prétend examiner jusqu’à quel point un système décentralisé, dont le schéma institutionnel concentre l’autorité dans le gouvernement central pour mettre en oeuvre des politiques à finalité de redistribution, réussit à réduire les différences régionales pour l’accès aux services publics. Pour cela, on examinera d’abord l’étendue du processus de décentralisation de la politique de santé au Brésil, pour analyser ensuite à quel point il est équitable lors de la fourniture des services de santé. MOTS-CLES: politique de santé, décentralisation, fédéralisme, schémas institutionnels, Brésil. Publicação Online do Caderno CRH: http://www.cadernocrh.ufba.br
Decentralization policies are an integrated component of health sector reform in an increasing number of countries. The ability of such policies to improve the health system's quality and efficiency is backed up by limited scientific evidence. This study intends to evaluate the impact of decentralization on a specialized field of disease control (leprosy control) in Colombia and Brazil. It analyses the respective juridical base, epidemiological indicators and local publications. Furthermore, 39 semi-structured interviews with key informants were conducted. In both countries, the devolution of technical responsibility and financial resources to the municipalities was the implemented form of decentralization. Access to preventive and curative health care and the community participation in decision-making improved clearly only in Brazil. The decentralization to private providers in Colombia had dubious effects on service quality in general and still more on public health. The flow of finances (including finance collection through state-owned taxes instead of insurance companies) seemed to be better controlled in Brazil. Leprosy control in Brazil took advantage of the decentralization process; in Colombia, it came close to a collapse.
Ana Luiza d’Ávila Viana, Luiza Sterman Heimann, Luciana Dias de Lima, Roberta Gondim de Oliveira · 5 authors
This article discusses the trends and limits of the Brazilian health system decentralization process, identifying the three elements that constitute the strategic induction performed by the national system administrator in accordance with the guidelines contained in the Operational Norms of the Unified National Health System: systemic rationality, intergovernmental and service provider financing, and health care model. The effects of the Federal regulations are analyzed based on the results of the evaluation study focused on the implementation of the full management scheme at the Municipal level. The decentralization strategy induced by Basic Operational Norm 96 has succeeded in improving institutional conditions, management autonomy, and supply, as measured by the Federal resources transferred, installed capacity, production, and coverage of outpatient and hospital services, with the Municipalities authorized to conduct fully autonomous management, without altering the existing patterns of inequity in the distribution of funds to poorer Municipalities.