OBJECTIVES: to identify points of agreement regarding the role of the State manager in the regionalization of health care in Brazilian National Health System (SUS). METHODS: a theoretical framework and evaluation grid were drawn up to evaluate the role of the State manager in regionalization. These were ratified by specialists, who confirmed the importance of the indicators chosen to establish the existence of consensus or the lack of it, on the basis of previously established cut-off points, using the Consensus Conference technique. RESULTS: the evaluation grid resulting from the consensus achieved involves three levels of analysis (government, management and care), which are broken down into six categories comprising 14 criteria and 82 indicators exploring the responsibility of the State manager of the SUS vis-à-vis the regionalization of health care. There was not a consensus regarding only four of these indicators, suggesting that the grid adopted is an efficient instrument for the evaluation of the regionalization of health care in SUS care and covers the various levels of this healt care intervention. CONCLUSIONS: the consensus now established, however provisional, may be taken as an extremely useful point of reference for further research and could serve as the basis for future evaluations of the implementation of regionalization, in such a way as to allow for comparative studies to be carried out.
Health evaluation; Decentralization; Regional health planning; Health management; Delivery of health care; Single health system
