title: Brazil's National Program for Improving Primary Care Access and Quality (PMAQ): Fulfilling the Potential of the World's Largest Payment for Performance System in Primary Care.
abstract: Despite some remarkable achievements, there are several challenges facing Brazil's Family Health Strategy (FHS), including expanding access to primary care and improving its quality. These concerns motivated the development of the National Program for Improving Primary Care Access and Quality (PMAQ). Although voluntary, the program now includes nearly 39 000 FHS teams in the country and has led to a near doubling of the federal investment in primary care in its first 2 rounds. In this article, we introduce the PMAQ and advance several recommendations to ensure that it continues to improve primary care access and quality in Brazil.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Health Policy and Management and Community Health Sciences, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Center for Health Sciences, Los Angeles, California (Dr Macinko); Department of Primary Care and Public Health, and the Institute of Global Health Innovation, Imperial College London, United Kingdom (Dr Harris); and Inter-American Development Bank, Brasilia, Brazil (Dr Rocha).
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Macinko
authors.forename: Matthew J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.forename: Marcia Gomes
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Rocha
mesh_terms: D001938:Brazil; D005192:Family Health; D005102:Health Expenditures; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000191:economics* / Q000592:standards*; D058996:Quality Improvement; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012052:Reimbursement, Incentive