Assessment of a Brazilian public hospital's performance for management purposes: A soft operations research case in action

Brazil's public health management system has undergone substantial restructuring over the past decade. One of the consequences of this restructuring is the establishment of a new relationship between the Ministry of Health (MS) and the Ministry of Education (MEC) regarding the funding of Federal University Hospitals. The Brazilian Ministry of Health has implemented a certification process for the University Hospitals that requires meeting a set of financial, managerial, and educational processes related goals, and adoption of an assistance model. This article uses the MultiCriteria Decision Aid (MCDA) approach to support the development of a model that can help the university hospitals' managers assess their institutional performance to meet their joint goals with the MS/MEC and obtain the certification. This case study was conducted at a hospital within the Brazilian federal education network.