List of patients

reflections for the practice of family and community medicine

Abstract

This article discusses the theme of patient list as a model for registering the population to the Primary Health Care (PHC) teams. Objective: to highlight the characteristics of patient list as a payment model. Method: theoretical essay on payment models that analyses the pilot of patient list of the Municipal Health Secretariat (MHS) of Florianopolis. To support the principles of the patient list, its application is presented in two different contexts: (a) in closed health systems, as in the Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO) in the United States; and (b) in universal health systems, using the British health system as a model. Discussion: the Florianopolis MHS patient list pilot-project faces two structural problems: (a) the universal health system that characterises Brazilian PHC; and (b) the salary payment model. These two components pose the challenge of establishing a real cap for patient lists. Without a limit on the number of patients, it is not possible to adjust health professionals’ workload. Additionally, a list of patients based on repeated use and on the care of out-of-list acute cases tend to increase the workload of professionals over time. Nonetheless, the proposed list of patients provides greater visibility of the workload facilitating both management and monitoring of care pressure and the internal redistribution of patients among the PHC health teams. It also makes it possible to justify the expansion of Family Health Strategy (FHS) teams according to more reliable data on the reality of services and to implement quality improvement programmes. Conclusion: the implementation of the flexible registering modality in Florianopolis does not have direct positive impacts on the workload of health teams, but perhaps it does indirectly through intelligent management of its PHC system.