Challenges to Performance Management: logical analysis of an Evaluation Policy in Health Surveillance

Abstract Acknowledging the contributions of the assessment area in supporting the performance of health policies, is to admit it in an ongoing and permanent way in the management context. This requires a set of procedures that go beyond monitoring and evaluation practices, known as performance management. The goal of this study was to analyze the logic of the Health Surveillance (HS) Evaluation Policy of Pernambuco, comparing it with the corresponding Canadian policy. For this purpose, a qualitative study of logical analysis of the program theory was carried out, using as a tool the design of the logical model of performance management and its respective matrix of analysis and judgment with the criteria to be evaluated. In HS, 9 key-informants were interviewed, and documents were analyzed; the Canadian model was analyzed based on a paper written by Lahey (2010). Both policies analyzed by this study are convergent and have the necessary elements for performance management. While the evaluation featured largely in the Canadian model, monitoring was the driving force behind the institutionalization of assessment practices in HS. Some lessons learned in the Canadian model can be recommended, such as the development of an assessment plan, based on the strategic and decision-making level of HS.