Following the money: an analysis of financial transfers from the municipality of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to social health organizations

This article analyzed the activity of social health organizations (OSS) in the Brazilian Unified National Health System (SUS) and the use of management contracts and contract addenda as instruments of privatization. The article aimed to understand the processes that legitimize privatization, based on quantification of the amounts transferred through management contracts and contract addenda to organizations that signed contracts with the Rio de Janeiro Municipal Health Department, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 2009 to 2018. A descriptive, exploratory, mixed-methods study was developed to analyze the amounts transferred to the OSS. The study used secondary public data available on the Health Department's websites and other official documents. A total of 268 documents were identified, 61 of which were contracts and 207 addenda, related to 15 institutions. The funds transferred to these organizations totaled BRL 15.94 billion (USD 2.9 billion). The OSS that received the most public funds was IABAS (Institute of Primary and Advanced Health Care), with a total of BRL 4.021 billion (USD 731 million). In 2014, Rio de Janeiro's total health budget was approximately BRL 4 billion (USD 727 million), of which BRL 2.5 billion (USD 455 million) was transferred to OSS, representing 62% of the municipal health budget. The data show that management contracts and contract addenda serve as instruments for privatization of the SUS. This privatization does not employ the conventional model but a functional and fluctuating one.