Home health care in supplementary care: a device for a productive restructuring

This study discusses the role the Brazilian Home Health Care Program (Programa de Aten??o Domiciliar - PAD) plays in supplementary care using the example of a Group Care provider headquartered in Rio de Janeiro. The purpose of the study was to understand how home health care is produced by verifying the interaction between the medical team, beneficiaries and family members considering that the service in this care model is delivered in the micro-political scenery of the process, in the client's own home. The assessment of this program must consider: infrastructure and logistics, beneficiary eligibility criteria, the care-network formed in support of the PAD and above all the work process. Especially the latter is a strong indicator, in the present case characterized by an eminently multi-professional team operating in networks with integrated therapeutic projects. For the professionals, Home Health Care has the meaning of an innovative and highly valuable approach to care delivery. The article concludes considering the PAD an important device for a fruitful restructuring of supplementary care through different ways of care delivery.