Primary health care and Social Organizations in capitals in the Southeast Region of Brazil: 2009 and 2014

This study focuses on the primary health care (PHC) performance of the four capitals of the Southeast Region of Brazil in the years 2009 and 2014 in terms of the indicators of the 2013-2015 Guidelines and Goals Pact (PDM, in Portuguese). Two capitals turned to Social Organizations (OS, in Portuguese) and two kept the provision and administration of PHC through Direct Administration (AD, in Portuguese), configuring distinct management models. Freely accessible secondary data and research on websites subsidized the characterization of the cities and their PHC performance. The characterization was based on demographic and socioeconomic data, PHC management model, health and PHC spending, importance of the Municipal Participation Fund for the budget and percentage of Executive Branch spending on personnel. In order to measure PHC performance, we calculated 13 indicators for 2009 and 2014, in three PDM guidelines: (i) access, (ii) integral care for women and children’s health and (iii) reduction of health risks and harms. The comparative performance analysis considered the year 2014 and each capital’s evolution during the period we analyzed. The capitals São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, with OS management, did not have a better performance in the set of indicators than the capitals than maintained a direct administration. We highlight the rapid expansion in PHC coverage in Rio de Janeiro through OS. In the performance evolution, there was improvement in indicators such as child mortality and hospital admissions due to conditions sensible to PHC in all capitals. The cities are different with regard to many parameters that can influence PHC performance. We did not intend to establish a direct relationship between the administration model and performance.