Sector data
How many post-acute care beds exist in Brazil, who counts them, and what each figure means in practice.
A bed is a place for an inpatient stay. Counting the country's post-acute care beds is counting how many people can be admitted at the same time in a post-acute care hospital.
A post-acute care and rehabilitation hospital is where a person stays once the critical phase of the illness has passed, when going home is not yet possible. It is the stage between the acute care hospital and the return home, with or without care at home (home care).
This page brings together the figures for that sector. Each one comes with the date and the source of the survey it belongs to, because they come from different counts and cannot be mixed.
Association survey · August 2023
What the association counted in 2023.
ABRAHCT counted the beds dedicated to post-acute care in Brazil and compared them with what existed five years earlier. In round numbers: the sector doubled in size, and most of the country's units are in the association, around seven in every ten.
beds dedicated to post-acute care in Brazil
growth in the number of beds over five years
of the country's post-acute care hospitals represented by ABRAHCT
ABRAHCT survey released in August 2023, compared with the 1,361 beds in operation in 2018. At the time of the release, the expectation was that the sector would reach almost 3,300 beds in the years that followed. That was the expectation stated in 2023, not a current figure.
Sector Diagnosis · 2025
The 2025 picture, surveyed by the association.
The indicators below come from the Diagnosis of the Post-Acute Care Sector in Brazil, the first national mapping carried out by ABRAHCT, released in April 2025.
The Diagnosis also measured length of stay and sector revenue. Those two indicators are not listed above: the management elected in 2026 is reviewing how they are measured, and the association will only publish them again under the definition set out in Definitions · Average length of stay.
post-acute care beds in operation
beds serving the public health system (SUS)
of estimated potential demand covered
professionals employed, 72% in direct care
occupancy rate
of beds concentrated in São Paulo
What each indicator means.
2,573 beds in operation
How many people can be admitted at the same time in post-acute care hospitals, in this survey. It is not the same measurement as the 2023 figure: see the warning below.
81% occupancy rate
Of every ten beds, around eight were occupied during the survey period.
32% of potential demand covered
The survey estimates how many people would need a post-acute care bed. The beds that exist today cover about a third of that estimate.
181 beds serving the public health system (SUS)
It is the number of beds the survey recorded as serving the SUS, Brazil's public health system.
35.8% of beds in São Paulo
More than a third of the supply is in a single state. The beds are not spread evenly across the country.
4,700 professionals
How many people the sector employs, 72% of them in direct patient care.
Careful: these are two different counts. The 2,573 beds in operation (2025) and the 2,745 dedicated beds (2023) do not measure the same thing, and the labels themselves show it. One figure does not replace the other, the difference between them is neither a fall nor growth, and the two do not form a series.
On average length of stay: it is deliberately not listed above. The indicator changes according to who does the calculation, because different institutions use different definitions under the same name, which is why two similar units can publish averages that are far apart. The management elected in 2026 has set the definition the association adopts and is reviewing how the figure is produced before publishing a sector number again. See how ABRAHCT calculates length of stay.
Timeline
The surveys, in order.
2018
1,361 beds dedicated to post-acute care in Brazil, the baseline for the 2023 survey.
August 2023
ABRAHCT releases a survey of its own: 2,745 dedicated beds, growth of 101.6% in five years, and 72% of the market's units represented by the association. The release is picked up by Revista Visão Hospitalar and Saúde Business.
January 2025
ABRAHCT calls on the sector to take part in a national study on post-acute care (GeHosp, 20/01/2025).
April 2025
Data from the Sector Diagnosis is released by Medicina S/A.
ABRAHCT survey released in August 2023, compared with the 1,361 beds in operation in 2018.
For journalists and researchers
How to cite these figures.
2023 figures
2,745 beds · +101.6% · 72% representation. Cite with the note:
“ABRAHCT survey released in August 2023, compared with the 1,361 beds in operation in 2018.”
Sector Diagnosis figures
2,573 beds in operation and the other indicators. Cite as “Diagnosis of the Post-Acute Care Sector in Brazil, ABRAHCT, April 2025”.
Questions about use and citation: abrahct@abrahct.org.br
Press
Information for the press.
Official text of the association
The Brazilian Association of Post-Acute Care Hospitals and Clinics (ABRAHCT) represents and brings together the institutions that care for patients who have come through the critical phase of an illness and are not yet able to go home. It is the link between the acute care hospital and the return home, with or without care at home (home care).
Story ideas, interviews and data: abrahct@abrahct.org.br · recent coverage