The appropriate provision of primary healthcare services and access to specialized services, also commonly referred as medium/high complexity, presents as a difficulty in several municipalities, considering the managerial issues involved including the workforce, cost and technological density required. This study aimed to understand the discursive practice of managers regarding the articulation between primary and middle/ high complexity levels of public health services in the Metropolitan Region of Curitiba (RMC). An exploratory study was conducted with seventeen health administrators in the CMA. The data were obtained in semi-structured interviews, being processed by speech analysis method. The material interpretation allowed the discourse data classification, which were grouped into categories: access of municipal primary care, medium complexity access, hospital care, oral health and political articulation. The analysis has shown that the municipalities are in different stages regarding primary health care. The difficulty in accessing medium/high complexity services promotes disruption in care lines continuity, which aim at comprehensive care in health and imply the proper coordination of primary care articulated to specialized care of second and/or third level of technology density.
health services accessibility; acess equity; health services; health public policy; health inequities
