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About DataSUS

DATASUS is the informatics department of the Brazilian public healthcare system, known as Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS). It is responsible for collecting, processing, storing, and disseminating health-related data across Brazil.

Main Roles and Functions of DATASUS

Data Collection and Integration Compiles and manages health data from hospitals, clinics, laboratories, and health units nationwide.

Information Management Provides tools and systems to manage health information for public health policy-making, epidemiological surveillance, and research.

Transparency and Public Access Makes healthcare data publicly available through online platforms, enhancing transparency and supporting health research and policy evaluation.

Support to Decision-Making Facilitates planning, monitoring, and evaluation of health policies and programs by providing reliable data and indicators.

The data available through DATASUS covers a wide range of health-related topics, including hospital admissions and discharges, mortality and morbidity statistics, disease surveillance and epidemiological data, immunization coverage and vaccine records, pharmaceutical distribution, and information on health infrastructure and resource availability.

Data Availability

In addition to its interactive platforms, DATASUS also provides a dedicated section for direct file downloads through its Transferência de Arquivos portal. This area allows users to access raw datasets in standardized formats, such as .dbc and .csv, which are regularly updated and include detailed records from various health information systems. Researchers, analysts, and public health professionals frequently use this resource to perform deeper statistical analyses and build custom tools or dashboards using official SUS data.

Autorização de Procedimentos Ambulatoriais de Alta Complexidade (APAC)

APAC stands for Autorização de Procedimentos Ambulatoriais de Alta Complexidade (Authorization for High-Complexity Outpatient Procedures). It is a data system within DATASUS that records and manages information related to specialized outpatient procedures performed in Brazil’s public health system, especially those that require prior authorization, long-term follow-up, or are considered high-cost or high-complexity.

It Tracks procedures such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, dialysis, and other chronic treatments. Includes patient-level data such as demographics (age, sex, municipality), diagnosis (ICD-10 codes), procedure codes, treatment dates, and values authorized and reimbursed. It is used for billing and auditing, as it documents healthcare services provided that must be pre-approved by SUS. It is also a structured data model, often used in health economics, service utilization analysis, and epidemiological studies.

Download APAC Informe Técnico for more detailed information about APACs.

Sistema de Informação Ambulatorial (SIA)

The Outpatient Information System (SIA) was established by Ordinance GM/MS No. 896 of June 29, 1990. Originally, the SIA was conceived from the SICAPS project (Sistema de Informação e Controle Ambulatorial da Previdência Social, Social Security Outpatient Information and Control System), in which the concepts, objectives, and guidelines developed for SICAPS were extremely important and widely used in the development of the SIA. These included: monitoring of physical and budgetary planning; tracking of health services provided; streamlining payment processes and budgetary and financial control; and creating a database to support the development of the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS).

SIGTAP SIGTAP SUS stands for the Management System of the Table of Procedures, Medications, Orthotics, Prosthetics, and Special Materials of the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS). It is an online platform that provides detailed access to the official SUS procedure table, which includes information about medical procedures, medications, and materials covered by the public health system in Brazil.

TABNET TABNET is a data analysis tool from DATASUS (Departamento de Informática do Sistema Único de Saúde), which is the information technology department of the Brazilian public health system, SUS (Sistema Único de Saúde). DATASUS gathers data from official sources to provide health information and indicators. TABNET allows users to access and manipulate DBF type database files to tabulate and calculate health status indicators at different levels of aggregation, such as municipal, state, or federal levels.

PCDaS / Sistema de Informações Hospitalares do SUS – SIHSUS The Data Science Platform for Health (PCDaS) leverages SIH/SUS data to conduct research and develop analytical tools. These efforts aim to improve health system management and policy-making by providing detailed insights into hospital care across Brazil.