The reform of Primary Health Care and the use of outpatient services in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro (RJ), Brazil

ABSTRACT The municipality of Rio de Janeiro accomplished, from 2009, a reform of the health sector, focusing on Primary Health Care (PHC). This article aims to analyze the capacity of government of the municipality of Rio de Janeiro on common outpatient procedures and its retention in establishments guided by PHC, considering the use of outpatient services at the end of the first administrative reform cycle. The data suggest unintended effects of the policy, where the emphasis on the universalization of PHC strengthened the role of the municipality in outpatient care and, therefore, in the specialization of federal functions towards the precepts of the Brazilian Health Reform.