Regulation of care in care networks: the importance of new technological arrangements

Abstract

One of the biggest challenges for health systems is ensuring full access. Regulatory processes in Brazilian healthcare prioritize the organization of waiting lists and care dynamics with a normative character, but distance themselves from the needs of users in the sense of a production of comprehensive care. In this qualitative study, the implications of health regulation in the production of care in the municipality of São Bernardo do Campo were analyzed, using the techniques of participant observation, focus groups and guide users, constructed from a cartographic process. Technological arrangements were identified in three scenarios: Regulatory Complex, Network Observatory and Network Support, which could be seized jointly by administrators, workers and users. The technological arrangements related to the matrixing of pulmonology and the line of care of musculoskeletal pain allowed the analysis of the relationship between the actions of regulation and care in such networks. The study concluded that regulatory actions were able to produce usercentered care, which the Regulatory Complex acted in an adjunct manner in ensuring access and that regulatory mechanisms in health services enhanced a regulation that produces care in care networks.