About us
The association of post-acute care hospitals in Brazil: why it exists and what it changes for the person who is admitted.
Why we exist
The post-acute care hospital is a new step in Brazil.
A person who leaves intensive care or comes out of surgery cannot always go straight home. There is not enough strength to walk, not enough safety to swallow, not enough know-how in the family to give care. The post-acute care hospital exists for that step: an admission for a set period, with doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and speech therapists working together, and with a stated goal, which is discharge.
In Brazil this step is recent and has no rules of its own. The post-acute care hospital is regulated as if it were an acute care hospital, the one for emergencies and surgery, even though it treats a different patient and has a different goal. On its own, no single institution changes that, standardises how care is measured or produces data on the sector as a whole.
ABRAHCT exists for that: to bring the institutions together, agree common criteria, take the subject to the bodies that regulate health care, and publish what is known about the sector.
What changes
What changes for the patient because the association exists.
An association does not care for anyone. What it does appears before and after the admission: in what becomes public, in what can be compared, and in what can be demanded.
One single way of counting length of stay
Average length of stay is not a matter of opinion: it has a formula. The association adopted the hospital census formula of the Ministry of Health, the same one used by ANS, the regulator of private health plans in Brazil, and published the calculator. That way one institution's figure can be compared with another's.
Public data on a sector that had almost none
How many post-acute care beds exist, how long an admission lasts, how much of the demand the country covers. The association gathers these figures and follows what is published about the sector. According to the Sector Diagnosis, an ABRAHCT survey released in April 2025, the Sector Diagnosis found 2,573 post-acute care beds in operation.
Rules of its own, instead of the acute care hospital's rules
Today the post-acute care hospital follows the rules written for the acute care hospital, the one for emergencies and surgery. The association argues for a specific classification and takes the subject to the bodies that regulate health care.
A public list of who is in the sector
The association publishes which institutions are members and explains the path for anyone looking for a place. The conversation happens directly with the unit, and you know who you are talking to.
ABRAHCT does not admit patients.
The association represents the sector. It has no beds, it does not arrange admissions and it does not recommend treatment. The referral always comes from the medical team caring for the patient. If you are looking for a place for a relative, see the member institutions and speak to each one directly.
Our history
Founded in 2020 by ten institutions in the sector.
ABRAHCT was created at a Founding General Assembly held in São Paulo on 26 June 2020, bringing together ten founding institutions from five states. The articles of association were registered in December of the same year, and the public launch came in 2021.
26 June 2020
Founding General Assembly, in São Paulo: ten founding institutions create the association and elect the first Board of Administration, chaired by Carlos Alberto Chiesa. The three technical committees — scientific, regulatory, and communication and market — were already provided for in the founding minutes.
11 December 2020
Articles of association and founding minutes registered at the 7th Registry of Deeds and Documents and Civil Registry of Legal Entities of São Paulo (no. 64,919).
2021
Public launch of the association, reported by the sector press as a milestone for the post-acute care segment.
August 2023
An ABRAHCT sector survey records 2,745 beds dedicated to post-acute care in Brazil, against 1,361 in 2018 — growth of 101.6% in five years. The release is picked up by the specialist press.
January 2025
ABRAHCT calls on the sector to take part in a national study on post-acute care — the Sector Diagnosis.
ABRAHCT survey released in August 2023, compared with the 1,361 beds in operation in 2018.
Statutory objectives
What the articles of association task us with.
In plain words: bring together serious institutions, train and qualify the people who work in them, produce studies and knowledge, and talk to the people who write the health rules.
Summary of article 3 of the Articles of Association, registered in 2020.
- Bring together the private institutions in the sector committed to ethics and quality in the delivery of their services
- Promote the expansion and the leading role of members in the supplementary health sector
- Encourage the training, development and specialisation of the professionals working in the sector
- Strengthen the sector as a productive and economic development model, fostering innovation and research
- Contribute to improving the health care delivery model
- Promote the exchange of scientific, technical, business and managerial experience among members
- Develop studies and propose solutions for the preservation and growth of supplementary health care
- Develop the relationship with the public bodies that regulate and oversee the sector
- Safeguard and defend the interests of members, always within ethical and lawful conduct
What the association declares about itself
Text as declared by the association itself. The mission comes from the main objective in article 3 of the articles of association.
Mission
To foster discussion and the search for innovative solutions for the post-acute care hospital and clinic sector, contributing to its strength and sustainability.
Vision
To be recognised as the reference body in Brazil for post-acute care hospitals and clinics.
Values
Excellence, ethics, leadership, safety, scientific knowledge, balance.
Regulatory agenda
For a specific classification for post-acute care.
The post-acute care hospital is regulated today by the rules written for general acute care hospitals, even though its objective and its patient profile are different. ABRAHCT argues for the creation of a specific classification for the sector and for channels of dialogue with the competent bodies, such as ANVISA, the Brazilian health regulatory agency.
For anyone looking for a place for a relative, this matters. The units follow the rules for general hospitals today, written for another kind of admission, and there is no classification of their own describing what defines a post-acute care hospital. That is the reference the association wants to see written down.
Conduct and integrity
A public commitment to the integrity of the system.
On 9 August 2023, ABRAHCT publicly backed the movement to prevent and combat fraud in health plans, and alerted its member institutions to the risks and the impacts.
“Reimbursement claims have taken on a huge scale and the fraud is increasingly sophisticated. We at ABRAHCT are extremely concerned about this and entirely in solidarity with health operators and policyholders in this anti-fraud movement.”
Frederico Berardo, president of the association, at the time of the statement. Translated from the original Portuguese.
Governance
How ABRAHCT is organised.
Governance is who decides and how decisions are taken. Here the ones who decide are the member institutions themselves, meeting in general assembly. The ones who carry it out are a board elected by them, and they are not paid for it. The rules below are in the articles of association.
General Assembly
The General Assembly is the association's sovereign body, made up of the Full Members. The Ordinary General Assembly is held once a year, by 30 April.
Board of Administration
The Board of Administration has 3 to 5 members elected by the General Assembly, with a two-year term: a president, a vice-president, a treasurer and the remaining members without specific designation. The president, vice-president and treasurer may not hold the same office for more than two consecutive terms. Board members are not remunerated.
Audit Committee
The Audit Committee is a non-permanent body: when established by the General Assembly, it is made up of 3 to 5 full members, without alternates, with a term that does not exceed that of the Board of Administration.
Technical committees
The technical committees are created by the Board of Administration and have been provided for since the association was founded. Their members are not remunerated.
The Board of Administration is supported by three thematic committees: Scientific, Regulatory, and Communication and Market.
Take part in building the post-acute care sector.
If you got here looking for care for someone, the page you want is the one with the member institutions. If you represent an institution in the sector, the association admits two categories of member: Full and Invited. The full requirements are on the Join page.