Coordination of care and Primary Health Care in the Unified Health System

Abstract

Coordination of care means establishing connections in order to achieve the greater goal of providing /meeting the needs and preferences of users in the  provision of health care, with high value, quality and continuity. This essay reviews the theoretical and empirical studies on coordination of care, with the  objective of identifying policies, strategies and instruments to achieve better coordination in the  Unified Health System. The synthesis is carried out  from three dimensions, considered central to  analyze this attribute in the context of Primary Health  Care (PHC) in Brazil: position of the Family Health Strategy  in the care network; integration between care levels  and interfaces with care regulation; and horizontal  integration with other attention and care devices in  the territory. It sought to identify concepts, evidence,  results and challenges regarding the coordination of  care in the national scenario, as well as to formulate a  ‘pro-coordination strategic agenda’ that recognizes  the progress achieved, but also the incompleteness of those initiatives. As the strengthening of PHC is one  of the most powerful pro-coordination measures, the reduction of investments and priority in the Family  Health Strategy represents the weakening of the  consolidation of systemic arrangements, capable of  guaranteeing integrality in health.