Abstract

GARCIA FARINAS, Anai et al. Costs of the emergency subsystem in primary health care in Cuba 1999-2000. Rev Cubana Salud Pública [online]. 2006, vol.32, n.1. ISSN 0864-3466.

The Cuban health system in the 1990s developed a subsystem to stratify the emergency service by care levels. Its objective was to establish an inmediate close and regionalized stepped care integrated with other levels of attention. The costs associated with the implementation of this subsystem during a year are characterized in this paper. 5 municipalities of 3 provinces of the country were selected starting from a sample that included urban-metropolitan, urban-nonmetropolitan, rural, and mountain municipalities, as well as places where the system has been introduced or not. The total cost and the cost per case were calculated. The cost in the urban-metropolitan municipality was fivefold . The greatest contribution to the cost was made by the centres of final cost. The cost per case ranged from 6 to 27 pesos. The highest costs coincided with the municipalities representing the urban zones, independently of the organization of the emergency services

Keywords : Primary health care; emergency care; total costs; cost per case seen; health service reforms; Cuba.

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