Brazilian Public Health System: history and profile of heart failure care and the impacts of COVID-19 / Sistema Público de Saúde Brasileiro: história e perfil dos cuidados com a insuficiência cardíaca e os impactos da COVID-19

Objective: The objective of this study is to describe the general and specific context of hospitalizations for Heart Failure (HF) in the Unified Health System and its main care indicators and economic aspects in the period before and during COVID-19. Methods: The economic indicators were evaluated between January 2011 and June 2022, comparing these indicators before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, using data from the DataSUS Health Information of the Ministry of Health of Brazil. The number of hospitalizations, length of stay, lethality and hospitalization costs were evaluated. The ARIMA method and the general regression model were used to analyze monthly results before and during COVID-19. Results: Hospitalization for HF has decreased in the last 11 years, with the most significant drop in the COVID-19 pandemic. After the pandemic, there was an increase in lethality in patients hospitalized for HF and also an increase in length of stay, despite the decrease in hospitalizations. When analyzing the economic aspects, more than US$ 725 million were spent. The average ticket showed a clear drop in per capita investment, with a real devaluation of 30.46% in the period from 2011 to 2022, which can be related to two main hypotheses: increased effectiveness and effectiveness of the analysis of service costs and/ or chronic underfunding of the Brazilian Public Health System. Conclusion: HF has its lethality worsened over time, especially in the COVID-19 period, also associated with a significant expense with the SUS and a tendency to decrease the allocation of resources.

Objetivo: O objetivo deste estudo é descrever o contexto geral e específico das internações por insuficiência cardíaca (IC) junto ao Sistema Único de Saúde e seus principais indicadores assistenciais e aspectos econômicos no período pré e durante a COVID-19. Métodos: Os indicadores econômicos foram avaliados no período entre janeiro de 2011 e junho de 2022, comparando esses indicadores antes e durante a pandemia por COVID-19, utilizando dados do DataSUS Informações de Saúde do Ministério da Saúde do Brasil. Foram avaliados o número de internações, tempo de internação, etalidade e custos de internação. O método ARIMA e o modelo de regressão geral foram usados para analisar os resultados mensais antes e durante a COVID-19. Resultados: A hospitalização por IC diminuiu nos últimos 11 anos, com queda mais significativa na pandemia da COVID-19. Após a pandemia, houve aumento da letalidade em pacientes internados por IC e também um aumento do tempo de permanência, mesmo diante da diminuição das internações. Ao analisar os aspectos econômicos, foram gastos mais de US$ 725 milhões. O ticket médio apresentou uma clara queda no investimento per capita, com desvalorização real de 30,46% no período de 2011 a 2022, o que pode estar relacionado a duas hipóteses principais: aumento da efetividade e efetividade da análise de custos do atendimento e/ou subfinanciamento crônico do Sistema Público de Saúde Brasileiro. Conclusão: A IC tem sua letalidade agravada ao longo do tempo, principalmente no período da COVID-19, associada também a um gasto relevante com o sistema público brasileiro e a uma tendência de diminuição da alocação de recursos.

Patient and family experience with telemedicine and in-person pediatric and obstetric ambulatory encounters throughout 2020, during the COVID-19 epidemic: the distance effect.

BACKGROUND: Telemedicine has grown significantly in recent years, mainly during the COVID-19 pandemic, and there has been a growing body of literature on the subject. Another topic that merits increased attention is differences in patient and family experience between telehealth and in-person visits. To our team's knowledge, this is the first study evaluating pediatric and obstetrics outpatients experience with telemedicine and in-person visit types in an academic maternal and children's hospital, and its correlation with geographic distance from the medical center throughout 2020, during the COVID-19 crisis. METHODS: We aim to evaluate and compare patients' telemedicine and in-person experience for ambulatory encounters based on survey data throughout 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, with particular focus on the influence of distance of the patient's home address from the medical facility. A total of 9,322 patient experience surveys from ambulatory encounters (6,362 in-person and 2,960 telemedicine), in a maternal and children's hospital during 2020 were included in this study. The percentage of patients who scored the question "Likelihood to recommend practice" with a maximum 5/5 (top box) score was used to evaluate patient experience. The k-means model was used to create distance clusters, and statistical t-tests were conducted to compare mean distances and Top Box values between telemedicine and in-person models. Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the correlation between Top Box scores and patients' distance to the hospital. RESULTS: Top Box likelihood to recommend percentages for in-person and telemedicine were comparable (in-person = 81.21%, telemedicine = 81.70%, p-value = 0.5624). Mean distance from the hospital was greater for telemedicine compared to in-person patients (in-person = 48.89 miles, telemedicine = 61.23 miles, p-value < 0.01). Patients who live farther displayed higher satisfaction scores regardless of the visit type (p-value < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: There is a direct relationship between the family experience and the distance from the considered medical center, during year 2020, i.e., patients who live farther from the hospital record higher Top Box proportion for "Likelihood to Recommend" than patients who live closer to the medical center, regardless of the approach, in-person or telemedicine.

Brazilian private health system: history, scenarios, and trends.

BACKGROUND: Health care is a complex economic and social system, which combines market elements and public and social interest. This combination in Brazil, like systems in China and United States of America, is operationalized through the public and private system. The sector represents approximately 9% of the country's GDP, of which 56% is privately sourced and 44% is of public origin. In the private sector includes a structure with 711 private health institutions, 47 million beneficiaries and revenues of US$30 billion a year. METHODS: Therefore, this research describes and analyzes the complementarity of Private Health before the Brazilian Unified Health System, highlighting its main characteristics, scenarios, and trends in the face of the health system and the Brazilian market. This descriptive and exploratory research uses secondary data from various sources, submitted to quantitative data analysis methods. The object of the research is the history of private health in Brazil and its main actors. RESULTS: The data are organized into three groups, each with its approach of collection and analysis. Thus, it is perceived as the notorious growth of large operators, to the detriment of operators with a lower concentration of beneficiaries; the increasing concentration of the market through mergers and acquisitions promoted by large publicly traded corporations, especially in regions with a lower rate of private health coverage; and the growth of the sector through business plans, whose central characteristic is the dependence on the country's employability rate. CONCLUSIONS: It is possible to perceive an intense trend of concentration of Brazilian private health in large institutions that have capitalized and have a great appetite for growth through mergers and acquisitions, whether from smaller operators or health institutions that integrate their health networks, following complementary health models already consolidated in countries such as China, and the United States of America, among others. This concentration projects a market with fewer options and competitiveness, reduction in transaction costs and increase the operational effectiveness of health care.

O uso da tecnologia da informação e comunicação para caracterizar os municípios: quem são e o que precisam para desenvolver ações de governo eletrônico e smart city / El uso de la tecnología de la información y comunicación para caracterizar a los municipios: quienes son y lo que necesitan para desarrollar acciones de gobierno electrónico y smart city / The use of information and communication technology to characterize municipalities: who they are and what they need to develop e-government and smart city initiatives

Resumo Este estudo explora as características de infraestrutura e uso das tecnologias da informação e comunicação dos municípios brasileiros, refletindo sobre a possibilidade de desenvolverem ações de governo eletrônico e smart cities. Um estudo quantitativo de análise de agrupamentos foi realizado sobre dados da Munic 2014 e identificou quatro clusters: o Sem-tecnologia, o Atento ao cidadão, o Atento à legislação e o Provido de TIC, que sugerem diferentes vias de ação em TIC. Cada grupo de municípios apresenta diferentes necessidades para o desenvolvimento de ações de governo eletrônico e smart cities, que requerem ações específicas para cada um dos quatro clusters.

Resumen Este estudio investiga las características de infraestructura y uso de las tecnologías de la información y comunicación de los municipios brasileños, reflexionando sobre la posibilidad de desarrollo de acciones de gobierno electrónico y de smart cities. Un estudio cuantitativo de análisis de agrupamientos realizado sobre datos de la investigación Munic-2014 identificó cuatro clusters: el Sin-tecnología, el Atento al Ciudadano, el Atento a la legislación y el Provisto de TIC, que sugieren diferentes vías de acción en TIC. Cada grupo de municipios presenta diferentes necesidades para el desarrollo de acciones de gobierno electrónico y smart cities que indican la necesidad de acciones específicas para cada uno de los cuatro clusters.

Abstract This study investigates the infrastructure characteristics and use of information and communication technologies of Brazilian municipalities reflecting on the possibility of developing e-government and smart cities actions. A quantitative study of cluster analysis, using data from the research "Munic 2014", identified four clusters: the Technologyless, the Concerned-on citizen, the Concerned-on legislation, and the ICT Supported, that suggest different courses of action in ICT. Each group of municipalities presents different needs for the development of e-government and smart cities actions that indicate the need for specific actions for each of the four clusters.