Resumo:
Telehealth emerged as a strategy to provide support to Primary Health Care professionals, aiming to enhance the work of health teams through continuing education initiatives; expand the population’s access to specialized services; and reduce patient referrals to other levels of health care through clinical and diagnostic support actions. The objective of this research was to evaluate the service developed by the Telehealth Center of Bahia in Primary Health Care, within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, from the perspective of state managers, in light of national and state regulations and documents. This is a descriptive, evaluative study with a qualitative approach, using document analysis and semi-structured interviews as data sources. The research enabled the construction of a logical model of the Telehealth Center of Bahia, which revealed that, in the evaluation of its components, clinical support scored lower
compared to structural components and continuing education support. It was identified that teleeducation
and tele-diagnosis activities are implemented; however, telecardiology and teledermatology services reach less than 50% of Bahia’s municipalities. The physical infrastructure of health units, particularly the absence or insufficiency of ICT equipment and internet connectivity, was cited as the main difficulty in utilizing telehealth services. The study also highlighted the Telehealth Center of Bahia’s weakness in monitoring and evaluating its activities. The public health emergency caused by COVID-19 brought changes to health
practices and transformed discussions about telehealth services. The regulation of Telehealth stands out as an important milestone for the use, expansion, and visibility of ICT-mediated health services. The telehealth Center of Bahia developed several strengthening actions for Primary Health Care during the COVID-19 crisis, ranging from tele-education and telediagnosis offerings to manager meetings, document preparation, and classes and courses tailored to the urgent demands of the pandemic. Additionally, the study revealed the regulation of new telehealth service modalities during the COVID-19 period, such as teleconsultation and specialized teleconsulting.
