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This article analyzed the dynamics of regionalization in municipalities within hinterlands and the possible implications of gaps in care for the marketing of health. This is a multiple case study with a qualitative approach, involving 76 semi-structured interviews with municipal, regional, and state managers. The results show that, particularly in the Northern states, the regional scheme did not reflect the social dynamics of the populations and created inadequate flows and unwanted routes. The municipal political agenda often prioritized interests other than that of regionalization, and rural problems did not mobilize managers to build specific regional planning. Parliamentary amendments were essential for investment in healthcare and the managers pointed to clientelistic relationships to obtain such resources, often conditioned by political-ideological alignment. The scarcity of public services favored dependence on the private sector and the commercialization of health in different situations. The great distances and the lack of public services in municipalities in the hinterland made the local public health system offer eminently dependent on contracts with private providers who negotiated on a retail basis or via service packages. Lastly, in the wake of unmet needs and gaps in care in remote rural municipalities, players in the healthcare market ₋ companies supplying inputs, consultants, healthcare professionals, and transportation services ₋ filled the gaps in public provision, sometimes controlling prices, supply and availability of services.

This study aims to analyze the care trajectories of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who were hospitalized and are currently undergoing rehabilitation regarding their use of and access to the healthcare network (HN). An evaluative, qualitative study was carried out based on interviews with patients in the city of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. The care trajectories were reconstructed at three different occasions that express their experiences with the healthcare and support network during the pandemic: prevention, support and diagnosis measures; hospitalization; post-COVID-19 care, rehabilitation and support. The results indicate that the main source of information about COVID-19 was TV newscasts. Preventive hygiene measures were the most widely adopted. The family was the main support network. There was no waiting time for admission to the municipal referral hospital. Hospitalization was very well evaluated in terms of user embracement, multidisciplinary care, virtual visits and daily contact between doctor and family members. A post-discharge "care vacuum" was identified, with no follow-up by primary health care (PHC) and other public services. Low-cost health insurance plans and private specialized post-COVID-19 services were frequently and spontaneously sought until the implementation of the rehabilitation service. In summary, solitary and discontinuous care trajectories of individuals and families shed light on several challenges to the health system, including guaranteed access to coordinated PHC and expanded offer of specialized public services and rehabilitation, aligned with the principles of humanized care, in addition to the maintenance of social support measures.

Analysis of the implementation, management, operation and sustainability of the Interfederative Health Consortia and the Regional Specialty Polyclinics, in the State of Bahia, Brazil. This is a single case study of a qualitative nature, with interviews with managers, social control, regulation, legislative, and mayors of municipalities in the member. The results indicate that capital expenditures and permanent cofinancing by the state manager are factors that encourage the participation of vertical consortia. The support of small municipalities, social participation bodies, and municipal councils stood out. We observed the strengthening of the cooperative relationship among public administrators from formal decision-making spaces and by the need for daily management of specialized care (SC). The offer of SC via consortia mitigated the dependence on buying SC from private services. The fear of losing autonomy, centralizing care in state equipment, and ignoring municipal financing were challenges in the process of restructuring regional specialty services. The support and sustainability of the initiative was based on the evaluation of a situation in which the accessibility to SC was more favorable after implementation of the Polyclinic and of user satisfaction with the quality of services. Strategies to communicate with the population and to bring together instances of social control need to be undertaken. We consider that the case represents a format, within public management, for the provision of more viable and timelier SC, gaining in dimension and quality, especially in territories with a significant number of small municipalities.

This study analyzes the performance of screening and diagnosis tests for cervical cancer among women aged 25 to 64 years, as well as the delay for the initiation of treatment within Brazil and in its geographic regions, from 2013 to 2020. Information on populational procedures and estimates was obtained from the information systems of the Brazilian Unified National Health System and the Brazilian National Supplementary Health Agency. We calculated the coverage indicators of the Pap smear, the percentages of altered cytopathological and histopathological tests, and the percentage of women diagnosed with cervical cancer with over 60 days of treatment. There was great variation in the coverage of the Pap smear test among the Brazilian regions with a downward trend from 2013, which was aggravated from 2019 to 2020. The number of altered cytopathological tests was 40% lower than estimated, and the difference between the recorded number of cancer diagnoses and the estimated number of patients was below 50%. The percentage of women diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer, who started treatment after 60 days, ranged from 50% in the South to 70% in the North Region with a decrease from 2018. In 2020, there was a decrease in the number of screening and follow-up tests, reducing the proportion of women delayed in starting treatment in the North, Southeast, and South regions. The decline in screening coverage and inadequate follow-up of women with altered results indicate the need to improve early detection strategies for the disease and establish mechanisms for constant evaluation and monitoring of actions.

The study analyzes the structural characteristics of primary health care (PHC) in its contextual and organizational dimensions in remote rural municipalities (counties) in Northern Minas Gerais State, Brazil. This is a case study with a qualitative approach, using 21 semi-structured interviews with health system administrators and health care workers from the family health teams (EqSF), as well as secondary data. For the contextual dimension, the results show that socioeconomic factors in the remote rural municipalities condition the organization of PHC and leave the population vulnerable, especially in the rural areas of the remote municipalities. As for the organizational dimension, the principal characteristics are: coexistence of formal and informal assignment of the services' users, two modalities of first-contact services, namely basic health units (UBS) and 24-hour health centers; prioritization of response to the spontaneous demand; strong action by the Family Health Support Centers in the development of activities in promotion and prevention, expanded scope of practices by community health workers; partial guarantee of transportation for persons in treatment; partial computerization of the UBS with the implementation of the electronic patient record (e-SUS), telecardiology; and the More Doctors Program. The study found that remote rural municipalities are not a uniform unit, since the municipal (county) seat and the rural areas are unequal in terms of living conditions and lack specific organization, policies, and financing to guarantee access to PHC. With all the limitations, the observations show initiatives with major difficulties in maintenance and sustainability and sometimes without necessarily corresponding to the use of space and social life that define rural health itineraries.

The article aims to analyze the work process for community health agents (ACS in Portuguese) in remote rural municipalities (counties) and identify specificities and contributions to primary healthcare. The qualitative study included 23 interviews with ACS and nurses in the family health teams in five remote rural counties in western Pará State, Brazil. Analysis of the work process for ACS covered two interconnected dimensions: scope of practices and qualification for the work. The scope of practices proved to be comprehensive, involving family follow-up, individual care and preventive measures, collective approach, and administrative activities. Home visits are the main activity by ACS and an important form of contact between health services and the clientele, meeting different objectives of enrollment, care, and information. ACS in remote rural communities, usually the only available health resource, display a broader scope of practices than in the municipal seats, including individual procedures. The qualification of ACS for the work can either enhance or limit the development of their practices and was expressed by the high motivation of the ACS, insufficient supervision and continuing education, and low integration with the larger health team. Policies are needed that acknowledge the specificities and guarantee greater support (materials, transportation, and continuing education) for full development of work by ACS in remote rural communities in the Amazon. The expanded set of practices by ACS suggests that they are relevant actors for providing care, facilitating the population's access to the healthcare network, and as a real link between rural populations and health services in remote rural communities.

The article analyzes the coordination of information and clinical management between levels of care in physicians' experience and explores related labor and organizational factors and attitudes towards the work and interaction. This is a cross-sectional study with application of the COORDENA-BR questionnaire to a sample of 64 primary health care (PHC) physicians and 56 specialized care (SC) from the public system in a medium-sized Brazilian city. The results show limited linkage of care in the Healthcare Network (RAS), with differences between PHC and SC. There is no exchange of information on diagnosis, treatment, or tests. Physicians in PHC agree more on the treatments prescribed by the specialists than vice versa, but repetition of tests is not frequent. PHC physicians refer patients to SC when necessary. Most medical specialists do not refer patients for follow-up consultations in PHC when necessary and do not give orientation to PHC physicians, who in turn fail to resolve their doubts with SC. Both PHC and specialties report long waiting times for specialist consultations. Temporary employment contracts are more common in PHC. Consultation time was considered too short for coordination between the two. Most physicians do not plan to change jobs, despite their heavy dissatisfaction with wages and work. Physicians do not know each other personally, and specialists do not identify physicians in PHC as the coordinators of care. Policies and measures to guarantee structural conditions to improve access, working conditions, and more favorable mutual adaptation need to be implemented systemically to the set of services in the Brazilian Unified National Health System (SUS).

In the 1980s, during the military dictatorship, Chile was a forerunner in Latin America in radical health system reform, expanding the private sector's participation in health insurance and services provision and influencing reforms in other countries of the region. The article analyzes health policies in Chile from 2000 to 2018, in the context of four democratic government administrations, considering continuities and changes in the policies' development and their conditioning factors. The analytical reference drew on contributions from historical institutionalism. Literature and document searches were performed, besides semi-structured interviews with national policymakers from the period under study. Analysis of the trajectory of health policies in Chile during the democratic period revealed continuities and changes in the agendas and strategies adopted by governments with different political positions. Incremental reforms throughout this period produced progress and improvements in health services access and provision. However, reform proposals to alter the health system's public-private arrangement encountered resistance, and the dual and segmented structure shaped in the 1980s was maintained, with strong private participation. Historical-structural, institutional, and political conditioning factors in State-market relations and the health system's configuration under the dictatorship hindered comprehensive changes in public-private relations in health, producing an example of path dependence and corporate interests' power in the health sector.

The article aims to assess organization and access to the Healthcare Network in a health region, from the perspective of female users. Healthcare trajectories were constructed for women with high-grade cervical squamous intraepithelial lesions, covered by different modalities of primary health care (PHC) in urban and rural areas, in municipalities in the interior, and in the capital city of the Northeast health region, Brazil. Women used PHC as their regular service for prevention and care, but reported barriers to access to medical appointments, especially in rural areas. Positive assessments were associated with positive reception by the health service and representation of the basic health unit or family health unit as the available locus for care. A perception of low case-resolution capacity in PHC was associated with delays in scheduling referrals, irregular/insufficient supply of medicines, and physician turnover. Women reported difficulty in access to specialized care, especially in municipalities in the interior, with the use of public and private services. All the users in the capital city of the health region underwent confirmatory diagnostic tests and surgeries in the Brazilian Unified National Health System (SUS). Support from family members, friends, and local politicians were part of the healthcare trajectories. Interprofessional communication was nearly non-existent and health professional-patient communication was precarious. The regionalized network appeared disconnected and with confusing flows in terms of guaranteeing timely access for users in municipalities in the interior and with additional difficulties for those in rural areas, even in the capital city, revealing incompleteness in regional arrangements and persistence of inter- and intra-municipal inequalities in access.

This article evaluates access to the Papanicolaou test in the Family Health Strategy (FHS) in municipalities in a health region. Cervical cancer control depends on a well-organized Family Health Strategy, so assessment of access to the Papanicolaou test reflects the quality of care at this level. This is a qualitative study with data produced in 10 focus groups, totaling 70 participants in four municipalities. We analyzed the organizational, symbolic, and technical dimensions of access to the Pap test, with cervical cancer control as the marker. The results indicate that living in rural areas was a barrier to access to the Papanicolaou test and exacerbated the inequalities. Nurses were the principal reference for access to the Pap test. The absence of necessary items for collecting cervical cytopathology specimens was a barrier to access in all the municipalities. There were obstacles to access for women with disabilities and lesbian women, with care that was fragmented and out of sync with individual characteristics. The numerous obstacles to access to the Papanicolaou test exposed the selectiveness of the Family Health Strategy in the health region, since it reproduced the invisibility of women with greater social vulnerability and exacerbated the existing inequalities.

The shortage of physicians in remote and underprivileged areas poses an obstacle to universal access and quality of health care. Through the More Doctors Program (PMM), as of 2015, 18 thousand physicians had been incorporated into Brazil's Unified National Health System (SUS) to work in basic care, 79% of whom were Cubans. This article analyzed the comprehensiveness of practices by Cuban physicians in the PMM using a qualitative study in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, based on interviews with Cuban physicians (24) and a focus group with supervisors of the PMM (4). Comprehensiveness was analyzed in two dimensions: the community-oriented biopsychosocial approach to care and the range of activities in health promotion, prevention, and care. The work by Cuban physicians presents elements that are consistent with the comprehensiveness of practices in primary care, providing a wide range of care and services, in keeping with the health problems' complexity and the plurality of settings. These health workers show outstanding capacity for community interaction, a preventive focus, planning of activities, and positive interpersonal team relations. The study identified attitudes and techniques of solidarity, physician-patient bonding, and community accountability. Challenges were identified in the promotion of participatory practices with communities, the expansion of users' autonomy in clinical decisions, management of psychological problems, systematization of approach tools, and performance of invasive procedures. The study furnishes strong evidence that the PMM, in addition to medical consultations, provides comprehensive health care and contributes to strengthening basic care in Brazil.

The article analyzes recent reforms in primary health care in the South American countries, discussing the scope and challenges for establishing comprehensive primary health care in the region's health systems. The data sources were case studies conducted in 12 countries, and the analytical lines were the strategic components in the design and implementation of primary health care: national policy approaches, characteristics of financing, organization and provision, and the workforce in primary health care. The crosscutting analysis from a comparative perspective provides an overview of primary health care in the region's countries and highlights convergences and asymmetries. A common trait is the recovery of the expanded definition of primary health care with family and community components, a territorial base, multidisciplinary team, incorporation of community health workers, and social participation. Implementation revealed heterogeneities in the advances and contradictions in the models. Insufficient supply of physicians, difficulties in provision and physician retention in remote and peripheral areas, as well as in primary health care itself, precarious employment relations, and absence of career plans are common problems, and there have been recent initiatives in government intervention to direct the workforce to the public system. Segmentation of the supply of primary health care converges with the segmentation of social protection in the various countries, through maintenance of social insurance or selective and targeted insurance or coverage by private health insurance, and persistent exclusion of populations from the right to health. The article argues that implementation of comprehensive primary health care is conditioned by the prevailing modalities of social protection in health.

This article analyzes the development of instruments for coordination between the Family Health Strategy and other levels in the health system, with a focus on measures to promote coordination linked to the 'integration among levels of care'. The results of case studies in four large cities indicate the presence of mechanism for integration among levels of care, suggesting concern with guaranteeing comprehensive care. The principal strategies identified here were: creation and strengthening of regulatory structures in the Municipal Health Secretariats and family health units with decentralization of roles to the local level, organization of flows, electronic patient charts, and expansion in the supply of specialized services at the municipal level. However, lack of integration among different providers, insufficient formal flows for hospital care, and absence of policies for medium complexity care were detected as barriers to the guarantee of comprehensive care, making the network's integration incomplete.

This article presents a mapping and analysis of monitoring and assessment research in Primary Health Care conducted and/or financed by the Ministry of Health and completed and published from 2000 to 2006. A total of 109 studies were identified, of which 11 had been completed, 84 were ongoing, and 14 had been concluded and had published partial results. First, studies from 2000 to 2002 were addressed to analyze the implementation of the Family Health Program and detect its weaknesses, potentialities, and costs. This phase could be described as "evaluation for decision-making", emphasizing the views of managers and health professionals. Another characteristic was the fragmentation/overlapping of studies, often conducted simultaneously and with similar objectives and methodologies. Most of the studies were published as technical reports using specialized, complicated language. The PROESF baseline studies performed since 2004 represent a step forward by incorporating elements for overcoming weaknesses in previous processes; these new elements include impact assessments, methodologies, and results-sharing, involving actors from Municipal and State health secretariats, and staff training in evaluation activities, and the perspectives of health services users.