This paper presents seven strategies considered to be relevant to ensure the continuity of the Brazilian National Health Care System consolidation and health care reform.

Contributing authors: Elizabeth A. Krupinski, Ph.D.,3 Jim Grigsby, Ph.D.,4 Joseph C. Kvedar, M.D.,5 Ronald S. Weinstein, M.D.,3 Jay H. Sanders, M.D.,6 Karen S. Rheuban, M.D.,7 Thomas S. Nesbitt, M.D.,8 Dale C. Alverson, M.D.,9 Ronald C. Merrell, M.D.,10 Jonathan D. Linkous,11 A. Stewart Ferguson, Ph.D.,12 Robert J. Waters, J.D.,13 Max E. Stachura, M.D.,14 David G. Ellis, M.D.,15 Nina M. Antonio...

Background Post-communist health care reforms and the break-up of Czechoslovakia have been studied from various perspectives, but little research has addressed the impact on health system performance. This paper investigates the quality and performance of the Slovak and Czech health systems before and after 1989, including the year of separation in 1993, using the concept of ‘avoidable’ mortality.