Information systems' importance for health care action planning and policy making by the municipality of Porto Alegre - Brazil A Importancia dos Sistemas de Informa o para o Planejamento de A es e Políticas de Saúde no Programa de Saúde da Família do Município de Porto Alegre

After the Federal Constitution of 1988 was issued, the Brazilian health system started using a new concept of decentralized health management. In 1990, an Act was voted that introduced the Unified Health System (SUS) and a year later an Information Systems Department was settled to support the Unified Health System (DATASUS). Based on the assumption that information systems (SI) help to improve the decision making process, and taking into account the context of the health industry in Brazil, the following research question was formulated: “How managers of the Basic Health Care network of Porto Alegre use the information generated by the many information systems of the Local Authority Health Secretary (SMS) to plan strategies for the Family Health Program (PSF)?” Thus, by means of a single exploratory case study carried out in Porto Alegre in 2008, the authors identified the main information systems used by the Family Health Program and, based on data gathered from those systems about 2006 and 2007, several analyses were performed to check for inconsistencies. Managers of the Family Health Program were questioned about the discrepancies that were found in the data used by the Local Authority Health Secretary. Results show that the information systems are not integrated, data is not reliable, there is little strategic alignment in the Local Authority Health Secretary and little commitment of those involved with the health area at the local level. Com o advento da Constitui o Federal de 1988 foi introduzido, no sistema de saúde brasileiro, o conceito de descentraliza o da gest o da saúde. Em 1990, foi criada a Lei Organica do Sistema único de Saúde (SUS) e no ano seguinte o Departamento de Informática do Sistema único de Saúde (DATASUS). Partindo-se do pressuposto de que sistemas de informa o (SI) podem apoiar o processo de tomada de decis o, e considerando-se o contexto da área da saúde no Brasil, a seguinte pergunta de pesquisa foi formulada: “Como os gestores, da rede de Aten o Básica de Porto Alegre, est o utilizado as informa es geradas pelos sistemas de informa o disponíveis na Secretaria Municipal de Saúde (SMS) para formula o do planejamento de estratégias do Programa Saúde da Família (PSF)?” Assim, através de um estudo de caso único de caráter exploratório realizado no município de Porto Alegre (RS) durante o ano de 2008, foram inicialmente identificados os principais sistemas de informa o utilizados pelo PSF. Posteriormente, com base em dados de 2006 e 2007 advindos desses SI, foram realizadas análises para verificar possíveis incongruênc