Introduction: The management of human capital is a process aimed at managing a critical resource of organizations highly linked to their capacity for innovation and continuous improvement, for the achievement of institutional objectives; which assumes the particularities of the specific sector such as public health, whose administrative activity must contribute to meet the growing social needs with high levels of quality and satisfaction in the services provided. Objective: The objective of the article is to determine some principles of the human capital management process in the hospital institutions, in relation to the traditional activities that are developed within this subsystem. Methods: Bibliographic review was used. Results: The research delivered the tasks that must be performed for the management of human capital and the considerations for the implementation of these. Conclusions: The results present particularities and challenges in the current context.