MEC publishes criteria on the increase of slots and new medical courses due to court decision

On October 23, 2023, the Brazilian Ministry of Education (“MEC”) published Ordinance No. 397/2023, which provides for criteria regarding the increase of new enrollment slots in existing medical courses and the creation of new medical courses, established by a court decision.

This ordinance resulted from the judgment of a provisional remedy within the scope of Direct Action for the Declaration of Constitutionality (ADI) No. 81/DF, which addressed requests that resulted from administrative proceedings initiated under a court decision. As such, the ordinance established that:

• new medical courses already implemented under judicial decisions be maintained;
• administrative proceedings that passed the initial document analysis continue and undergo evaluation under criteria set in paragraphs 1, 2 and 7, of article 3, of Law No 12,871/2013 (“Mais Médicos Law”); and
• administrative proceedings that have not passed the initial document analysis be suspended.

In this regard, Ordinance No. 397/2023 officially confirms the decision of the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court (STF) to suspend administrative proceedings that have not passed the stage of document analysis, in addition to defining analysis requirements in more advanced administrative proceedings.

Below, we highlight the main requirements that higher education institutions in Brazil must fulfill to obtain authorization for opening new courses and increasing enrollment slots in existing medical courses:

1. The city where the institution is located must be part of the list announced in Public Call Notice No. 1, of October 4, 2023, regarding the selection of authorization proposals for medical courses under Mais Médicos (“More Doctors Program”).
2. The funding entity (individual or legal entity) must submit a Participation Agreement, duly signed by the competent local manager of the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS), establishing the entity’s commitment to providing the education institution with services, initiatives and health programs required for implementing and running medical courses, in return for 10% of the gross annual revenue forecast for the medical course or for the increase of enrollment slots.
3. The medical course must achieve a 4 or higher score from an in-person evaluation at the education institution, conducted by the Brazilian Institute of Educational Studies and Research (“INEP”).
4. Evaluation of the public infrastructure and existing health programs available in the city where the medical course will be offered, under criteria listed in article 8 of Ordinance 397/2023. In case the public infrastructure and health programs of the city that is offering the course fail to meet these requirements, the Department of Regulation and Supervision of Higher Education (Seres) will assess the availability of other cities in the same region.

If more than one funding entity or education institution applies for the authorization of a new medical course or the increase in enrollment slots in a city or health region whose infrastructure cannot meet the demand created by this expansion, the enrollment slots for new or already existing courses will be equally divided among the applicants.

Finally, 60 enrollment slots will be guaranteed for health regions that encompass cities listed in Public Call Notice No. 1, of October 4.

Demarest’s Regulatory Law team is monitoring updates in the sector and will be available to provide any further information that may be necessary.