Health's Judicialization: a case study of the Health Secretariat of Pernambuco

Abstract

Objective: This article aimed to analyze the judicialization of access to health services in the State Department of Health of Pernambuco in the year 2016. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional, quantitative and analytical study with data from the Judicial Actions Center of the State Health Secretariat of Pernambuco in 2016. The variables were: the product; the establishment of care; ICD-10; municipalities of the region; municipality of residence; sex; product group and action driver. Results: Of the 2,560 cases, the medications corresponded to 63.5% of the actions. 42% of the demands were concentrated in the 1st Health Region; 39.3% and 31.5% came from public health and philanthropic units, respectively. The data corroborate with findings from the literature regarding the item most sued in court and the trend of concentration in metropolitan regions. It differs as to the nature of the complainant organ because in this case it was the public authority itself and the public health units. Conclusions: Incorporating the objects of lawsuits into the regular provision of health services can contribute to the reduction of processes and increase citizens' access to legal rights. In some cases, ensuring compliance with the standards already published favors the tendency to decrease the judicialization, being necessary for this analysis the longitudinal studies.