TCU report highlights INSS’s precariousness in carrying out medical examinations in Amazonas

Amazonas is the penultimate state in the country in the ranking of number of medical experts per million inhabitants and remains among the worst in terms of average waiting time to carry out medical examinations for the continued provision benefit (BPC) for people with disabilities, according to Judgment by the Federal Audit Court (TCU), approved on March 27th, but only released this week.

The ruling deals with an audit on the management of disability benefits by the Ministry of Social Security (MPS) and the National Social Security Institute (INSS), makes recommendations for improvements and warns of the fact that delays in granting benefits can lead to the characterization of a failure in the duty of accountability of the managers of the responsible bodies.

The TCU found that, mainly due to the insufficient number of expertise, the inefficient allocation of experts and deficiencies in information technology resources, the average active scheduling time to carry out expertise in September 2023 was 82 days, higher than the 45 days required by law.

“This has resulted in lack of protection and financial loss for insured persons eligible for social security benefits due to disability and for people eligible for BPC for people with disabilities,” says the report.

The five longest average times were those of the states of Rondônia (247 days), Tocantins (226 days), Amazonas (221 days), Piauí (196 days) and Ceará (193 days). Furthermore, only six of the twenty-seven federative units in Brazil had an average active scheduling time for medical expertise of less than 45 days.

In relation to the BPC for people with disabilities, the five longest average times were those in the states of Rondônia (289 days), Tocantins (273 days), Amazonas (267 days), Alagoas (241 days) and Piauí (229 days). It is noteworthy that only the state of Acre had an average active scheduling time for medical expertise of less than 45 days.

The federation units with the highest number of medical experts per million inhabitants were Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, with 25 per million inhabitants, while those with the lowest number were Maranhão, with only 8, followed by Tocantins and Amazonas, both with 9. On average (number for Brazil), the number of federal medical experts per million inhabitants is 16.

Among the TCU’s recommendations are the prioritization of the allocation of federal medical experts in regions that have a lower number of professionals per million inhabitants and with higher indicators of average active scheduling time for expertise, the use of modern technology that can increase the reach of medical expertise for regions where there is a lack of availability of expertise vacancies, such as tele-expertise care, documentary analysis of remote medical certificates (AtestMed).

The Judgment, whose rapporteur is Minister Aroldo Cedraz, also recommends improvements in information technology systems used in disability benefit activities in order to reduce incidents of instabilities and unavailability, in order to allow optimization and increased productivity. .