This article analyzed the activity of Social Health Organizations (OSS) in the Brazilian Unified National Health System (SUS) and the use of management contracts and contract addenda as instruments of privatization. The article aimed to understand the processes that legitimize privatization, based on quantification of the amounts transferred through management contracts and contract addenda to organizations that signed contracts with the Rio de Janeiro Municipal Health Department, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 2009 to 2018. A descriptive, exploratory, mixed-methods study was developed to analyze the amounts transferred to the OSS. The study used secondary public data available on the Health Department’s websites and other official documents. A total of 268 documents were identified, 61 of which were contracts and 207 addenda, related to 15 institutions. The funds transferred to these organizations totaled BRL 15.94 billion (USD 2.9 billion). The OSS that received the most public funds was IABAS (Institute of Primary and Advanced Health Care), with a total of BRL 4.021 billion (USD 731 million). In 2014, Rio de Janeiro’s total health budget was approximately BRL 4 billion (USD 727 million), of which BRL 2.5 billion (USD 455 million) was transferred to OSS, representing 62% of the municipal health budget. The data show that management contracts and contract addenda serve as instruments for privatization of the SUS. This privatization does not employ the conventional model but a functional and fluctuating one.

This article analyzed the activity of Social Health Organizations (OSS) in the Brazilian Unified National Health System (SUS) and the use of management contracts and contract addenda as instruments of privatization. The article aimed to understand the processes that legitimize privatization, based on quantification of the amounts transferred through management contracts and contract addenda to organizations that signed contracts with the Rio de Janeiro Municipal Health Department, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 2009 to 2018. A descriptive, exploratory, mixed-methods study was developed to analyze the amounts transferred to the OSS. The study used secondary public data available on the Health Department’s websites and other official documents. A total of 268 documents were identified, 61 of which were contracts and 207 addenda, related to 15 institutions. The funds transferred to these organizations totaled BRL 15.94 billion (USD 2.9 billion). The OSS that received the most public funds was IABAS (Institute of Primary and Advanced Health Care), with a total of BRL 4.021 billion (USD 731 million). In 2014, Rio de Janeiro’s total health budget was approximately BRL 4 billion (USD 727 million), of which BRL 2.5 billion (USD 455 million) was transferred to OSS, representing 62% of the municipal health budget. The data show that management contracts and contract addenda serve as instruments for privatization of the SUS. This privatization does not employ the conventional model but a functional and fluctuating one.

Abstract: Introduction: The scarcity and inequalities in the geographical distribution of physicians challenge the consolidation of the right to health and create migratory flows that increase health inequities. Due to their complex and multidimensional characteristics, they demand multisectoral political approaches, considering several factors related to the availability and area of practice of medical doctors, as well as the social vulnerability of local populations. Objective: This study aimed at analysing results of the “Mais Médicos” (More Doctors) Program Educational Axis in Brazil. Methodology: A documental research was conducted, highlighting the location and the public or private nature of new undergraduate medical school vacancies between the years 2013 until 2017, which were then compared to the goals and strategies outlined in the official Program documents. Results: The Educational Axis reached important milestones despite the resistance of some institutional actors. The Program extended its undergraduate vacancies by 7696 places, 22.48% of that in public institutions and 77.52% in private ones. Vacancy distribution prioritized cities in rural areas of Brazil, at the same instance bringing forward significant regulatory changes for undergraduate medical courses. However, political disputes with representatives of medical societies and stakeholders interested in favouring the private educational and healthcare sectors surface in the official discourses and documents. These factors weakened the program normative body, creating a hiatus between its core objectives and respective implementation. Evidence related to the concentration of vacancies in the Southeast regions allow the maintenance of a known unequal workforce distribution, despite a proportionally bigger increase in the Midwest, North and Northeast regions. Conclusion: The predominance of vacancies in private institutions and the weakening of the new undergraduate courses monitoring instruments can compromise changes in the graduate students’ profiles, which are necessary for the fixation of physicians in strategic geographic areas to promote Primary Healthcare.

Abstract: Introduction: The scarcity and inequalities in the geographical distribution of physicians challenge the consolidation of the right to health and create migratory flows that increase health inequities. Due to their complex and multidimensional characteristics, they demand multisectoral political approaches, considering several factors related to the availability and area of practice of medical doctors, as well as the social vulnerability of local populations. Objective: This study aimed at analysing results of the “Mais Médicos” (More Doctors) Program Educational Axis in Brazil. Methodology: A documental research was conducted, highlighting the location and the public or private nature of new undergraduate medical school vacancies between the years 2013 until 2017, which were then compared to the goals and strategies outlined in the official Program documents. Results: The Educational Axis reached important milestones despite the resistance of some institutional actors. The Program extended its undergraduate vacancies by 7696 places, 22.48% of that in public institutions and 77.52% in private ones. Vacancy distribution prioritized cities in rural areas of Brazil, at the same instance bringing forward significant regulatory changes for undergraduate medical courses. However, political disputes with representatives of medical societies and stakeholders interested in favouring the private educational and healthcare sectors surface in the official discourses and documents. These factors weakened the program normative body, creating a hiatus between its core objectives and respective implementation. Evidence related to the concentration of vacancies in the Southeast regions allow the maintenance of a known unequal workforce distribution, despite a proportionally bigger increase in the Midwest, North and Northeast regions. Conclusion: The predominance of vacancies in private institutions and the weakening of the new undergraduate courses monitoring instruments can compromise changes in the graduate students’ profiles, which are necessary for the fixation of physicians in strategic geographic areas to promote Primary Healthcare.

Abstract: This is an international narrative review study, which had the objectives of identifying and understanding the determining educational aspects for the retention of physicians in remote and unassisted areas. Through search on databases, we selected ten articles about medical education institutions and programs that increased the recruitment and retention levels for their alumni in areas where there was shortage of professionals, which clarified the educational aspects associated to such results, and which were considered as predictors for the retention of physicians. The main predictors found were: selection processes that prioritized the admission of students who were previously linked to places where there was a shortage of physicians; the creation of curricular frameworks based on problem-based methodologies focused on local health issues, with an emphasis in primary care and Family and Community Medicine approaches; and the quality of the educational experiences, especially in the primary care environment in rural or remote areas, which, in turn, involve the educational trajectory and experience of professors, as well as the infrastructure and localization of the medical schools in strategic areas. The placement of school is such areas allow close proximity between the professors to the reality of the vulnerable communities. The results of the review still point out that the retention of physicians in unassisted areas demands the confrontation of social, cultural, economic and political factors, which frequently transcend the governability of educational institutions. They also reiterate the need for a wider conceptual uniformity among research studies in order to ensure more solid scientific evidence about the subject, and the importance of conducting studies that contemplate the Latin-American context, specifically Brazil, where the literature on the topic is still scarce.

Abstract: This is an international narrative review study, which had the objectives of identifying and understanding the determining educational aspects for the retention of physicians in remote and unassisted areas. Through search on databases, we selected ten articles about medical education institutions and programs that increased the recruitment and retention levels for their alumni in areas where there was shortage of professionals, which clarified the educational aspects associated to such results, and which were considered as predictors for the retention of physicians. The main predictors found were: selection processes that prioritized the admission of students who were previously linked to places where there was a shortage of physicians; the creation of curricular frameworks based on problem-based methodologies focused on local health issues, with an emphasis in primary care and Family and Community Medicine approaches; and the quality of the educational experiences, especially in the primary care environment in rural or remote areas, which, in turn, involve the educational trajectory and experience of professors, as well as the infrastructure and localization of the medical schools in strategic areas. The placement of school is such areas allow close proximity between the professors to the reality of the vulnerable communities. The results of the review still point out that the retention of physicians in unassisted areas demands the confrontation of social, cultural, economic and political factors, which frequently transcend the governability of educational institutions. They also reiterate the need for a wider conceptual uniformity among research studies in order to ensure more solid scientific evidence about the subject, and the importance of conducting studies that contemplate the Latin-American context, specifically Brazil, where the literature on the topic is still scarce.