The general objective of this paper was to propose a model of allocating public financial resources to Brazilian hospital organizations that provide highly complex health care services on behalf of the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS). The main theoretical background was built on Carr-Hill et al.[1] Focusing on the highly complex health care services provided by the hospitals, the study underscored factors such as supply (or productivity and accessibility/availability of services/beds), demand (or need for health care), use (or utilization/consumption of services/beds), and complexity segmentation of the service in Brazil. The sample comprised 251 organizations offering at least type-II adult and type-II newborn Intensive Care Units in 23 Brazilian states and classified as general and/or specialized hospitals. The Carr-Hill et al. [1] model was adapted to propose a simplified theoretical model of supply that could represent the relationship between the variables included in the final equation of the model, namely: mean inpatient cost, availability of basic health care services, bed occupancy rate, organization type, and organization nature. The results pointed out that the significant determinants empirically confirm the arguments that are rejected by sanitarians in the theoretical field -that the model of resource allocation is based on productivity.
Keywords: Brazilian hospital; high complex services; resources allocation.Following the Carr-Hill et al. [1] model, this study differentiates the several types of services (e.g., nonpsychiatric, outpatient services, and public health care). Drawing on Bloor and Mayner [5], this differentiation derives from the understanding that each of such types of services requires a different volume of resources and, therefore, has a different impact on the public budget. Since the computation and analysis of costs are based on the observed expenses, that is, those already incurred, it follows that it is a contradiction to accept the current system of service supply and the current health care policy as adequate, despite the criticisms made against them [6].
REFERENCE MODEL AND NECESSARY ADAPTATIONSMendes, Leite and Marques [7] agree with Porto [8] that the international model of resource allocation most applicable to the Brazilian case is that built on the English experience, the Resource Allocation Working Party 2 model (RAWP-2). Porto [8] claims that an adaptation of the RAPW-2 model, as proposed by Carr-Hill et al. [1], is the most statistically robust and theoretically grounded model to date. This model allows for measuring relative inequalities that are much less significant than those observed in Brazil