Flaviopédia Português
Brazil that Prepares

Health that cares before illness arrives

prevention costs little; treating late costs a lot, and sometimes costs a life

Proposes correcting the SUS fee schedule, expanding the Family Health Strategy, contracting tests from private providers during idle hours, expanding telehealth and delivering medicines at home.

In the program: [p. 37, 38] · Translated by Flaviopédia from the official Portuguese text; the Portuguese quote is authoritative. Read the original in Portuguese

What the program says

Health is the foundation of everything this chapter promises: a sick child does not learn, a sick adult does not work, and a family with a seriously ill member sees its budget and its plans collapse together. Brazil without Queues already deals with ending the wait and digitizing care. Here, the commitment is complementary: to ensure that Brazilians get to the doctor and, more than that, that they take care of their health before they fall ill. We will guarantee the conditions to make an effective correction of the fee schedule of the SUS (the public health system) possible. The adjustment law already exists, but, tied to the budget, it has not tackled the shortfall that is suffocating hospitals, santas casas (philanthropic hospitals) and clinics, especially in the interior. We will ensure payment that covers the real cost of care, so that public money is fair to those who provide care and citizens have care even where it is lacking today. We will expand the Family Health Strategy (Estratégia Saúde da Família), bringing care close to home, and create the “Programa de Atendimento aos Idosos” (“Elderly Care Program”), with easier care suited to those who are aging, so that older people do not face the same exhausting journey as always to take care of themselves. We will also expand access to preventive tests and maintain immunization and support for domestic vaccine production, because prevention is always cheaper and more humane than treating late. To make good use of what already exists, we will contract services and tests from private providers during idle hours: there is equipment sitting unused while people wait months for the same test, and making use of this capacity means serving more people without building from scratch. We will also strengthen the National Network of Smart Hospitals (EBSERH, the Brazilian Hospital Services Company), modernizing the federal university hospitals. We will also bring care to those who cannot get to it. With telehealth and app-based remote consultations, doctors from regions with low demand will be able to see patients where queues are long, bringing care closer to those who live far from a major center. And a home medicine delivery system will ensure that older people, people with disabilities and the chronically ill do not have to choose between seeking treatment and paying for transportation. Technology also helps to provide care before illness worsens. With artificial intelligence supporting prevention, the system will be able to identify those at greatest risk of falling ill and call them in to take care of themselves in time, instead of waiting for them to arrive at the emergency room when it is already serious. It is the difference between treating at the start and treating when there is not much left to do. [p. 37, 38]

In plain language

  • The program provides for creating the conditions for an effective correction of the SUS fee schedule. It states that the adjustment law already exists but, tied to the budget, has not resolved the shortfall affecting hospitals, santas casas and clinics, especially in the interior, and proposes payment that covers the real cost of care.
  • It proposes expanding the Family Health Strategy, bringing care close to home, and creating the Programa de Atendimento aos Idosos, with easier care suited to those who are aging.
  • It provides for expanding access to preventive tests, maintaining vaccination and support for domestic vaccine production, and contracting services and tests from private providers during the hours when equipment sits idle.
  • It cites the strengthening of the National Network of Smart Hospitals (EBSERH), with the modernization of the federal university hospitals, and the use of telehealth and app-based remote consultations so that doctors from low-demand regions can see patients where queues are long.
  • It proposes a system for delivering medicines at home to older people, people with disabilities and the chronically ill, and the use of artificial intelligence to identify those at greatest risk of falling ill and call them in to take care of themselves in time.

What is not in the program

  • It does not state the cost or funding source for correcting the SUS fee schedule or for the other measures.
  • It does not give the percentage or amount of the fee schedule correction, nor how the real cost of care would be calculated.
  • It does not set criteria or amounts for contracting services and tests from private providers during idle hours.
  • It does not detail how the Programa de Atendimento aos Idosos, home medicine delivery and the use of artificial intelligence in prevention would work, nor who would carry them out.
  • It sets no numerical targets or timelines.