An evaluation of PMAQ-AB effects on hospitalization for conditions susceptible to Primary Care

ABSTRACT The aim of this article was to evaluate the effect of the National Program for Access and Quality Improvement in Primary Care (PMAQ-AB) on access and quality of Primary Care. Hospitalization for conditions susceptible to Primary Care were used as a dependent variable and indirect indicator of quality and access to that level of care. The quantitative method of study was applied, adopting all Brazilian municipalities as unit of analysis. The study was divided into two phases. The first one performed an exploratory descriptive time series analysis on the Brazilian municipalities for the period from 2010 to 2014. The second phase was characterized for evaluating the effect of the Program, during the same period, on access and quality of Primary Care by means of the statistical regression technique with counting data. The results, analyzed by region, showed that the Program exerts a significant effect on the quality and access of Primary Care, especially in the Northeast region of Brazil. This article contains an important report on health policies in Brazil, and is a mean of instructing managers and the various actors involved in the development and discussion of one of the main programs in Primary Care.