[Structural conditions for regionalization in health care: typology of Regional Management Boards]

An explanation is required for the delay in implementing the regionalization strategy and the fragile nature of the combined decentralization and regionalization initiatives in Brazil. The article raises some hypotheses to clarify this intricate issue and reviews the structural conditioning factors of the regionalization process ongoing in the states. A national typology of the health care regions is prepared, differentiating them according to the degree of socio-economic development and the characteristics of the health care network and of the municipalities that form the Regional Management Boards (CGR), formally implanted by January 2010. Factorial and cluster analysis models were used to build the typology. Five major socio-economic groups of CGRs were identified, described according to their regional distribution, population, health care spending, profile of services offered (including the public-private sector mix) and health service coverage. The results obtained serve as guidelines for the constitution of health care networks and new initiatives at the regional level, in order to improve the regionalization policy and favour the construction of diverse and flexible regulatory instruments that are more in tune with the regional state of affairs.