OBJECTIVES: to demonstrate that the study of integration and coordination of care may reveal significant elements for the evaluation of primary health care policy systems (PHC). METHODS: a descriptive study of the forms and factors that facilitate or impede the integration of PHC, using comparative analysis of the reforms carried out in Latin America, by way of systematic review and analysis of documents. RESULTS: three types of integration were identified: selective primary care within maternal/child health programs, PHC as first contact care and municipal experiments with insurance-based systems. An explanatory model of the problem of fragmentation is developed, demonstrating the need to articulate the analysis of the macro, meso and microsocial levels for a comprehensive view of the performance of services. CONCLUSIONS: services remain segmented and fragmented, even in the case of systems with a universal basis. The proposed model combines these two categories, thereby contributing to the selection of indicators for evaluation of public systems guided by this policy.
Latin America; Primary health care; Health evaluation; Integrated health care systems
