ABSTRACT
The Argentine Constitution has a federal structure, where the provinces are autonomous from the nation, in regard to the areas of health and education. Health resources (public hospitals and outpatient clinics) and several health programs are managed by the provinces, while the national Ministry of Health establishes general policies and priorities, finances strategic programs, and oversees the health system. Argentine healthcare is organized as a mixed system made up by the public, private, and social security sub-systems. Social security was fundamentally of non-governmental origin: multiple mutual insurance funds organized by immigrants became official entities and were placed under the control of trade unions from each production branch. Moreover, entities of governmental origin were set up for public employees from the provinces and for retirees. In spite of the widespread availability of public services, private services, such as social security providers, are the most dynamic. In Argentina, patient quality and safety have been marginal strategies in health policy, regardless of the intentions of health authorities in the 1990s and 2000s. Different governmental and non-governmental actors have as yet been unable to have a significant impact. To achieve such a purpose, it would be necessary to have a convergence of the provincial and the national Governments, together with professional associations, social security agencies managed by trade unions, and corporate chambers. This would enable development of transformational strategies that may reduce the gap between what happens in the country and what could be achieved, with the available resources and the quality of their scientific professionals.
