Abstract
This essay assumes that from a simple administrative guideline, regionalization has become the main concept for enabling the doctrine of equitable and universal coverage behind the Brazilian Sistema Único de Saúde. At the interface between studies of the historicity of the concepts and extensive fieldwork, it is argued that the traditional concept of the regionalization of the Sistema Único de Saúde has reached the historical limits of its productive capacity. However, updating this term challenges novel perspectives for a clinical system integrated in networks within a broader intersectoral strategy of regional production clusters.
regionalization; decentralization; concept formation; health policy; Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS
