Consórcios Intermunicipais de Saúde (CIS) como mecanismos de coordenação federativa para construção da regionalização: papel, possibilidades e limites

Abstract

There is a diversity of management experiences by Intermunicipal Health Consortia (CIS) in Brazil. From a quantitative approach in the only public database, which gathers information on consortia in the country, it was possible to count and map 189 CIS registered in the Municipalist Observatory of Public Consortia, of the National Confederation of Municipalities (CNM). The main objective of this dissertation is to investigate whether the Intermunicipal Health Consortia, understood as instruments of federative coordination aimed at supporting decentralized management, can enhance collective actions and favor the construction of regionalization. For this, a narrative review of the literature was carried out on the experiences of consortium management, which used the CIS as an organizational model of assistance at the regional level, in order to understand whether the Intermunicipal Health Consortia strengthened regionalization. Eleven academic papers were selected that evaluated the implementation of the consortium management in the states of Ceará, Pernambuco, Mato Grosso, São Paulo, Paraná, Bahia and Rio de Janeiro. The literature argues that CIS are able to face the dilemmas of regionalization and the obstacles of decentralization. The results suggest that the technical and financial support of the State Health Departments can induce the formation of these arrangements, for the organization of specialized care at the regional level, in favor of gains of scale, expansion of supply and overcoming the costs and difficulties arising from decentralization. However, challenges in the process of cooperation and coordination in the Health Care Network (RAS) may still persist, even after the establishment of the CIS, mainly caused by political influences in the decision-making process, by the relationship with the regional health administration, Intermanager Commission Regional Council (CIR) and Bipartite Intermanager Commission (CIB), as well as the lack of social control. Academic production on the results achieved by the CIS in the regionalization strategy is still incipient, and additional studies are needed to assess the impacts of consortium management on a regional scale.