This paper examines strategies developed by Brazil and Spain for integrating Primary Health Care with Specialized Care. Common measures included: the filter role played by family doctors, territorialization of health services, specialist consultants/matrix support and consensual clinical protocols. Of particular note, in Brazil, is the recent introduction of decentralized regulation systems and, in Spain, the long established computerization of PHC clinical records. Both countries face the challenge of creating unified clinical records. Measures to foster more interpersonal relationship were considered the most successful strategies for integrating health workers from the two levels.
Primary health care; systems integration; health services