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In 2019, unprecedentedly among the official statistical institutes worldwide, the IBGE included a particular module on evaluating primary health care in its central population-based population survey, the National Health Survey (PNS-2019). The survey considered the reduced version of the Primary Care Assessment Tool (PCAT), developed and disseminated by Starfield and Shi, to assess the existence and extent of the structure and process characteristics of PHC services. It is the most significant probabilistic sample using this instrument ever conducted in a single country in the world that interviewed users aged 18 or over (n=9,677). The results of the Brazilian overall PCAT scores (5.9 [5.8; 5.9]) point to significant regional and intraregional contrasts, with the South of the country standing out with the best evaluations of primary care services (overall score = 6.3 [6.2; 6.5]) and the North with the worse (overall score = 5,5 [5,3; 5,7]). There were also statistically significant and more favorable differences between residents of households registered by family health teams, among older adults, and those using health services the most (adults with reported morbidities).

On May 20, 2019, one day after the world's celebration of the Family Physician's Day, the Ministry of Health published Decree N. 9,795 of May 17, 2019, which changed the organization chart of this federal body. For the first time in the country's history, a specific Secretariat responsible for Primary Health Care and the Family Health Strategy (ESF) was created. The ESF celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2019. The new Primary Health Care Secretariat (SAPS) has three departments: the already existing Department of Strategic Programmatic Actions (DAPES), a Department of Family Health (DESF) and a new Department of Health Promotion (DPS). The Secretariat has, among its competencies, commitments that seek to meet structural challenges, even in the face of a budget constraint scenario that has been observed since 2014. Among the commitments are: (i) increasing the population's access to family health units , (ii) definition of a new funding model based on health and efficiency results, (iii) definition of a new model for the provision and training of physicians for remote areas, (iv) strengthening of clinic and teamwork, v) expansion of the computerization of units and electronic medical records.

Objective: To evaluate whether the scheduling model influences the perception of the user about the quality of primary health care centers., Methods: This is a cross-sectional and population-based study that measured the quality of centers by the Primary Care Assessment Tool (PCATool-Brazil), applied to adult users (n = 409) from 11 health centers in Florianópolis, state of Santa Catarina. Multilevel analysis was used to verify the relationship between the score of general quality of the primary health care and the scheduling model. The independent variables (age, skin color, scheduling model, panel size by primary health team, poverty ratio as income proxy, number of health teams, presence of economically interest areas, number of medical appointments in one year per primary health team, number of people treated in one year per health team), with p < 0.20 were selected for the multilevel model, which was adjusted with aggregates of information from users and health centers., Results: The health center that used advanced access had a general score of 7.04, while those using a weekly carve-out had a score of 6.26; the carve-out every 15 days, score of 5.87; and the traditional carve-out, score of 6.29., Conclusions: The scheduling model of advanced access had a positive effect on the quality of primary health care, in the perception of users.

Objective: To assess the performance of primary health care (PHC) in Brazil and its association with the More Doctors Program (Programa Mais Médicos, PMM)., Method: This nationwide cross-sectional study used the Primary Care Assessment Tool validated for Brazilian Portuguese (PCATool-Brasil) to determine the achievement of PHC according to user experience associated with three physician categories: Brazilian physicians participating in the PMM, Cuban physicians participating in the PMM, and Brazilian physicians not linked to the PMM. The following PHC scores were calculated: overall PCA score, accessibility (first contact), and longitudinality. The association between PHC scores, physician category, and other user and physician characteristics was investigated using multilevel analysis., Results: The overall PCA score for Brazil was 6.78, and the longitudinality score was 7.43. There was no difference in these scores among the three physician categories. The overall accessibility score was 4.24. A small but significant difference (P < 0.001) in accessibility score was detected among physician categories: 4.43 for Cuban physicians participating in the PMM (CI: 4.32-4.54), 4.08 for Brazilian physicians participating in the PMM(CI: 3.98-4.18), and 4.20 for Brazilian physicians not linked to the PMM (CI: 4.09-4.32). Age, socioeconomic level, presence of chronic diseases, and home visits by physicians positively influenced the overall PCA score on multilevel analysis., Conclusions: The type of physician did not influence the primary care orientation (overall score) of the healthcare system in Brazil. PMM was associated with higher accessibility sores in more socioeconomically vulnerable areas. Multilevel analysis showed that PCH may be strengthened by the reinforcement of essential physician roles (such as home visits) and by improving access for socioeconomically vulnerable, younger populations or those without chronic diseases., Competing Interests: Conflitos de interesse. Estudo proposto por pesquisadores do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Epidemiologia, da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), e financiado pela Organização Pan-Americana de Saúde/Organização Mundial da Saúde (OPAS/OMS). Os autores declaram ter avaliado os dados conforme evidências, não havendo conflito de interesses.

Objective: To describe the process of cross-cultural adaptation of the Patient-Doctor Relationship Questionnaire (PDRQ-9), as well as compare the agreement between two different types of application., Methods: This is a cross-sectional study with 133 adult users of a Primary Health Service in Porto Alegre, State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The PDRQ-9 was answered by the participants as a self-administered questionnaire and in an interview. The instrument was also validated by interview, using data from 628 participants of the Mais Médicos Program Evaluation Research, which is a cross-sectional study with a systematic sample of Primary Care Services in all regions of Brazil. We evaluated the semantic, conceptual, and item equivalence, as well as factor analysis and reliability., Results: All items presented factor loading > 0.5 in the different methods of application and populations in the factor analysis. We found Cronbach's alpha of 0.94 in the self-administered method. We found Cronbach's alpha of 0.95 and 0.94 in the two different samples in the interview application. The use of PDRQ-9 with an interview or self-administered was considered equivalent., Conclusions: The cross-cultural adaptation of the PDRQ-9 in Brazil replicated the factorial structure found in the original study, with high internal consistency. The instrument can be used as a new dimension in the evaluation of the quality of health care in clinical research, in the evaluation of services and public health, in health management, and in professional training. Further studies can evaluate other properties of the instrument, as well as its behavior in different populations and contexts.

This paper aims to evaluate the extent of PHC attributes, from the experience of users, both adults and children caregivers, comparing the area served by the health facilities of the district of Rocinha with other areas of health district 2.1 in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro. The measuring tool used to evaluate the quality of services provided was the Primary Care Assessment Tools. A cross-sectional study was conducted, with independent random samples and 802 interviewees. Results indicate a better performance for children care when compared to adult care. Attributes "access" and "comprehensiveness - available services" were the worst performers, probably due to the great external and internal migration existing within Rocinha itself. To improve these attributes, we recommend the adoption of a single list of residents by Family Health Team (ESF), with a maximum number of people, including territorial delimitation and people internal mobility. We also highlight the importance of strengthening the Family and Community Medicine Residency Program, which, since 2012, has been training specialists with the support of preceptors and enables increased portfolio of PHC services.

This study proposes an integrative review of the literature based on articles and publications on the use of the Primary Care Assessment Tool (PCAT) as a tool for evaluating these services, discussing the results found in Brazil and in other countries of the world, from the initial matrix conceived by Professor Barbara Starfield's team and proposing updates for the Brazilian version. We identified 124 studies, of which 42 were selected after full reading and according to the established inclusion criteria. Of this subtotal, 17 (40.5%) were Brazilian studies. There is a need to update items of each tool's attribute, in particular "access - first contact", including new forms of doctor-patient communication such as: email, mobile application messages, use of videoconference software for communication and even use of telemedicine, among others. PCAT's use, application and calculation of scores is simple, which makes it useful and suitable for use in the local management of services, especially in its short version.

In the first half of 2014, 6,675 adults and caregivers of children using Primary Care (PC) services in Rio de Janeiro were interviewed using the Primary Care Assessment Tool - PCATool-Brazil. The aim was to arrive at an accurate overview of the extent to which PC services in all of the Planning Areas (PA) of the Rio de Janeiro City Health Department (CHD) - Municipal Health Secretariat have the essential and derivative attributes. This was a cross-sectional study of random, independent samples of the service users (children and adults). Results were measured using the scores assigned to PC attributes. In the opinion of adults and children using PC services, Type A Units - Municipal Healthcare Centers and Family Clinics staffed only with Family Health Teams, performed better than Type B units. The scores for the attributes "first contact accessibility", "comprehensive service - services provided", "community orientation" and "family orientation" still need to be improved. On the other hand "coordinated care" and "continuity" are on their way to quality scores, being always rated at around 6.0 or even higher.

In Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil, public primary healthcare (PHC) is provided by traditional Basic Health Units (BHU), the Family Health Strategy (FHS), the Murialdo Health Center (MHC), and the Community Health Service (CHS) of Grupo Hospitalar Conceição. This study compares the quality of adult healthcare among these different types of services. Quality of care was measured by interviews focusing on the experience of physicians and nurses in the services (n = 340), using the Primary Care Assessment Tool. Overall scores for the FHS, MHC, and CHS were significantly higher than for the BHU. The CHS also showed a significantly higher overall score compared to the FHS and MHC. In the multivariate analysis, the variables "specialized training in PHC" and "continuing education" were associated with high overall score. Thus, expansion of FHS coverage and investment in professional training are important potential strategies for improving PHC in Porto Alegre.