National Policy for Hospital Care: con(di)vergences among the Federal Executive's rules, Conferences and strategies

ABSTRACT This paper is aimed at analyzing the National Policy for Hospital Care and its convergences and divergences regarding National Health Conferences and National Health Plans in the 1988 Brazilian Federal Constitution. Documents were collected from January to June 2016, then processed and analyzed until December 2016. Results on policy making were subdivided into pre-decision and decision periods. In the first one, the normative character pointing to the formalization of contracts and the decentralization of hospital management at the state level can be highlighted. During the decision period, the indirect management model was strengthened, thus enhancing tensions involving decisions made in Conferences.