ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to evaluate health care quality and medication adherence in people living with human immunodeficiency virus in specialized care services. This is a cross-sectional, evaluative study, with a quantitative approach, carried out in ten services in Pernambuco. Two instruments were validated and analyzed by statistical tests were used and 306 adults and their service managers participated. The quality standard was equivalent for most indicators. Only in the countryside, the indicators referring to the availability of antiretroviral drugs and care in the absence of medication were associated with low adherence (p-value=0.033 and p-value=0.011), the latter being a predictor for low adherence. Services with insufficient quality standards showed a 19% higher occurrence of low medication adherence. 81% of users had low adherence to antiretroviral drugs. There is a deficiency in adherence to antiretroviral drugs, and those assisted in services in the countryside have more complicating factors related to the quality of health care for satisfactory adherence.