FAMILY HEALTH TEAM EXPANSION AND THE MORE DOCTORS PROGRAM IN BRAZILIAN MUNICIPALITIES

Abstract

The study analyzed the development of family health teams in Brazil, based on secondary data from the Ministry of Health on family health teams deployed in December 2012 and 2015 in the National Register of Health Establishments, according to the municipalities' macro regions and population size. Also analyzed were hospitalizations for causes sensitive to primary care, based on the Hospital Information System, with reference to the year hospitalization took place. In 2015, more than 70% of the municipalities had joined the More Doctors Program (almost 40% of the family health teams), ensuring universalization in nearly 100% of the municipalities with smaller populations. In addition to the expansion, which included more than twenty million people, also analyzed was the replacement of the teams that had been deployed before, suggesting less turnover and fixation of the professionals, which may have been encouraged by funding from the Ministry of Health that reduced the municipalities' costs. Hospitalizations for causes sensitive to primary care further reduced after program implementation, suggesting its contribution to improving access to and the performance of primary care. There are still important challenges ahead, and the program is an effort to achieve system universality.

Keywords
Primary health care; Family Health Strategy; Unified Health System