The Programa Saúde da Família (PSF), Family Health Program, in Portuguese language is one of the national public health programs in Brazil, which implements a national policy for primary care settings with the aim of substituting part of the traditional model of primary care based on medical specialists.
The unique identification and central registry of all citizens of the country, using a so-called SUS Card, was to be one of its main organization supports.
In its most recent development, a program for establishing in each region a Family Health Support Nucleus (NASF: Núcleo de Apoio à Saúde da Família) was started by the federal government in cooperation with state and municipal governments, In addition, a system of SUS Schools (training schools in several cities and states) was established, in order to provide the buildup and training of the huge specialized workforce required by SUS and PSF.
PSF has, so far, produced a positive impact on the direction of this new model of health care and prevention, but it still has not been able to completely substitute the former model, based in an overvaluation of the practices of curative care, medical specialists and hospitals, with its emphasis on an excess of technological procedures and drugs, leading to high costs.
PSF strives to offer integrated health care focused on the family, instead of individuals, but the penetration of the model is still incomplete in most of the cities.