OBJECTIVE: This transversal study was developed from the analysis of indicators which express the desirable approach for programmatic actions, with the objective of evaluating the performance of a Family Healthcare Center in its attendance to patients suffering from arterial hypertension living in a small municipal district. METHODS: The research was carried out starting from the analysis of the records of enrollment in the program, Record A from SIAB (Primary Care Information System), of 418 individuals suffering from arterial hypertension. It was also analyzed the information of 351 files from the health center. In addition, 376 interviews were carried out with individuals living in the vicinity of the health center, in the year of 2003. The following variables were studied: gender, age, family income, home conditions, health services used presence of diabetes mellitus, average number of individuals attended and attendance concentration. RESULTS: Women above 60 years of age prevailed in 65.7% of the cases. The hypertension prevalence rate on individuals who searched for care was of 18%, being different among gender, among women it was of 22.3%. The average number of appointments with a doctor was of 64.1%; 32.4% for appointments with a nurse, and 36.4% for home medical attendance. The information on files revealed that 25.8% of the individuals were not assisted in 2003 and 52.7% received no assistance in the last semester. The concentration of services was below preconization. CONCLUSION: The information revealed no organization on the attention to the preventive health care, focusing the assistance to a spontaneous demand, expressing unpreparedness in the use of information systems for the planning and evaluation of the actions.