Innovation and utility: External Evaluation of the National Program for Access and Quality Improvement in Primary Health Care

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the utility of the External Evaluation of the Brasil’s National  Program for Improvement Access and Quality in Primary Health Care, considered an innovation. It is an evaluation study of the External Evaluation of the  PMAQ-AB in the perception of subjects who  experienced the conduction of this evaluation  through a qualitative case study. It was observed the involvement of  stakeholders with different national management  spheres, procedural involvement between the  Department of Primary Care and Teaching and  Research Institutions, national coverage facilitated  with Information Technology resources, negotiation of logistics in loco with municipal managers. Scientific  credibility of the evaluators was observed; the  relationship between national managers and research  institutions did not appear to be conflicting; the  institutions uncovered conflicts between managers  and Primary Care Teams about the allocation of  resources to management. A large scope of  information on structure, processes, and results was  found; capillarity and access to results. It is concluded  that from the perspective of the participants of the  study, the External Evaluation proved to be innovative  and useful to induce the improvement of the quality of Primary Care.