摘要：The aim of the present study is to analyze the current design of the private health market in Brazil according to the theoretical basis of the Institutional Theory. The research data were collected through documents and a total of 32 non structured interviews with the public and private representative entities in the field, from the period of 2001 to 2003, involving qualitative analysis, so as to understand the phenomena from the actors’ perspective. The research identifies the various players that integrate the market and their evident strategic goals, besides of the power resources used to reach them, according to DiMaggio and Powell’s view. The study demonstrates that the field has an isomorphic structure with strong internal interaction and a well defined system of beliefs and values that have become consolidated over a long period of time, within the context of a series of State actions directed towards the systematization of health services available to the Brazilian population, mainly dating from the 50s, culminating in the formation of a private system of health services, endowed with a hierarchy of its own values, among which the health symbol predominates over that of an economic nature. Finally, the study presents a vision of the chief historical-institutional factors and agents that have contributed to the formation of the private health field, as it appears currently in Brazil.
