Abstract
The state of Bahia has been a “pioneer” in privatization of hospital management through a policy of encouraging Health Social Organizations (OSS) under the discourse of greater efficiency. The rapidity as the private sector penetrates the public sphere and modifies the notion of democracy and public interest has been noted around the world. To analyze the process of OSS management in two cases, documents available in the public domain sites and interviews with the hospital and the Health Department of Bahia State (SESAB) management staff were used. A comparison between the data collected by different sources was supported by historical and operational-analytical categories which allowed its interpretation and showed the rise of outsourcings since 1996, and the emergence of OSS in the Bahia hospital scene from 2005 forward, side by side with the weakness of the Health State Council control and the revival of the “best efficiency” discourse that would be "almost like the state." To meet the new policy and tune up with the new government discourse, ex-outsourced companies changed their legal personality to OSS. Such disguised privatization process was protagonized by a government that supported contrary speech about this practice antagonistical to the principles of health security, expressed by the Brazilian Constitution.
Keywords:
health management; hospital administration; outsourced services