Senate approves suspension of targets for SUS service providers

Brazilian Agency – Brasilia

The Senate has approved a bill (PL) that guarantees remittances to Unified Health System (SUS) providers without having to meet quantitative and qualitative targets due to the covid-19 pandemic. The bill goes into a presidential sanction.

The topic has been discussed since 2020, with consecutive term extensions. Previously, the deadline was December 31, 2021. Now, the entities will be exempted from achieving the goals stipulated in contracts until June 30, 2022.

Current legislation sets out several requirements for an entity providing health services to be considered charitable and, therefore, to be able to obtain tax benefits guaranteed by law. However, the epidemic forced the suspension of medical consultations in various specialties, elective procedures, supplementary exams and other services, which prevented the goals from being achieved.

Without a law that guarantees payment, failure to meet targets can result in benefits being suspended, and thus, the financial health of this type of provider is at risk.

The rapporteur on the topic explained that “in this chaotic situation, it has become impossible for service providers to achieve the contractual goals of performing surgeries, biopsies, endoscopy, etc., which may lead to penalties by the public administration.” In the Senate, Elysian Gama (Citizenship-MA).

“Given the needs of these entities, the National Congress has not only agreed to suspend the requirement to achieve the goals, but has also encouraged an extension of the validity of the measure, depending on the continuity of the pandemic and its effects on the Brazilian health services,” he added.