A qualitative study on the policy design of telehealth in Brazil based on valuation models in health and public policy analysis, specifically the proposed multiple streams of analytical and logical model for evaluating health programs. Data sources consisted of documents related to the creation of Telemedicine University Network (Rute), articles available in the literature on telehealth and health evaluation, minutes of meetings and participating in various forums. The model focuses multiple streams in the early stages of the cycle of public policy: the construction of the government agenda and choice of alternative policies. We sought to delineate the composition of Rute and answer constraints which led federal managers from various sectors to recognize the quality of the system as a public health problem and the choice of implementing telehealth programs as one of the alternatives. The cases analyzed showed that in the flux convergence problems with favorable political environment, a window of opportunity opened up for the deployment of telehealth to eventually ascend as an alternative in the political agenda of the government decision. But for this, there is urgent need for digital inclusion in the territory and identify the technologies of information and communication as an innovation for SUS.
telehealth; public policies; assessment
