Economia da saúde: o financiamento do SUS e os impactos sobre a gestão e o faturamento hospitalar

Abstract

This study aims to analyze health financing and its impacts on management and hospital billing, with a focus on the Unified Health System. The methodology includes a quali-quantitative approach, including a literature review, from the perspective of the political economy of health; an analysis of official secondary data such as DATASUS, TABWIN, CNES, emphasizing subperiods between 2000 and 2025; as well as reflections on management and billing, based on experience in an public hospital in Rio Grande do Norte. The results point to underfunding and disinvestment of the SUS, while public support for private (for-profit) and philanthropic healthcare. Such factors impact negatively public health, management, and hospital billing, compromising the constitutional principles of health as a Right and the principles of the SUS: universality, comprehensiveness, and equity. The study concludes that it is urgent to restore constitutional minimum funding for healthcare and to reverse the disinvestment imposed by fiscal austerity policies. Equally important is the valuation of healthcare professionals, the improvement of their working conditions and salaries, as well as the modernization of medical billing departments and cost management in public hospitals.