This article presents the results of the research on a new managerial practice in the health´s field: the creation, in hospitals, of Health Commissions designed to interact with the systems´ users, especially listening what they have to say. In the City of Porto Alegre two public hospitals are leading the carrying out of this service. The essay places the occurrence of the commissions or committees in the context of Brazilian society, focusing especially in health and hospitals. The next topic is the significance, for the hospitals, of setting up commissions. I analyze Health Commissions as devices which enable the redefinition of institutional relationships, implying participation and discipline for patients and health-workers. Concluding, I assert that the main institutional and social consequences of the Health Commissions acts are: a) the advertisement of liberal and reformist projects for Brazil´s Health System changes, and b) the redefinition of some of the present institutional relationships; the commissions are, however, bearers of a high potential of democratization of those relationships.
health; public policies; hospital health commission; institutional relationships