This study aimed to understand how institutional support was formulated by the Ministry of Health and how this strategy of a round-table method has been incorporated into the official discourse of the federal management of SUS. This study is categorized as qualitative research. We analyzed official documents, national guidelines, training booklets and policies of the Ministry of Health. We identified dilemmas, difficulties and limits that SUS managers experience daily while seeking strategies to change the traditional logic of government (hegemonic managerial rationality), either through democratic and participative management or in the relationship between federal entities. From the documents analyzed, it may be supposed that these managers have a desire for change, given that the political-theoretical consistency is appropriate for this. However, the documents present contradictions and show the difficulty of integration between areas of the Ministry of Health and between this ministry and the decentralized managers (states and municipalities).
Paideia method; Institutional support; Brazilian Health System; Ministry of Health; Healthcare management