Characterization of Communes with Quality Accredited Primary Healthcare Centers in Chile

The accreditation process of primary healthcare centers in Chile has not had the same progress as in hospitals, which show high levels of compliance. The purpose of this research is to characterize the communes that have accredited family healthcare centers (CESFAMs) through socio-economic, municipal management, clinical management, and population variables by performing a principal components analysis (PCA) with biplot analysis and a grouping of communes through a hierarchical analysis. The biplot analysis and hierarchical analysis yielded the formation of three large groups of communes with accredited CESFAMs, characterized mainly by population size, number of people registered in the municipal health system, socioeconomic indicators, and financial management and clinical management variables. It was found that the communes that have accredited CESFAMs are characterized by dissimilar behavior in relation to the variables analyzed. Through the model used, it was possible to establish at least three groups of communes according to their behavior against these variables. Of these, the variables of a municipal financial nature were not decisive in achieving the accreditation of the CESFAMs of these communes. Therefore, it is possible that there are other variables or factors that could be facilitating the achievement of accreditation processes. © 2022 by the authors.