[Public health services: reading their available reports].

The objective of this study is to analyze the performance of regional public health services in Spain using the information accessible in their annual reports. A search of these was conducted, and 9 were obtained from the 17 Autonomous Communities. Their analysis shows some variation in the structure of the organizations providing public health services, as well as in the published contents and in the indicators used for management. The service portfolio, annual objectives and resources allocated are not always detailed. If the evaluation of public services and its dissemination are basic for transparency and quality management, there is much room for improvement. The compilation of annual reports by public health services is not systematic, and those that exist provide insufficient information for a comparative analysis of their activity, effectiveness and efficiency.