About us
The link between acute care and home care: the association that represents transitional care hospitals and clinics in Brazil.
The association
The Brazilian Association of Transitional Care Hospitals and Clinics — ABRAHCT — represents and brings together the institutions that care for patients recovering from acute illness who are not yet ready to return home. Using multidisciplinary teams specialised in recovery and rehabilitation programmes, in a far calmer and more welcoming environment, these institutions support families and carers at a moment of high care demand.
The association's aim is to raise the sector's visibility and demonstrate the benefits of transitional care hospitals and clinics, both for patients and for the sustainability of the health ecosystem — with the purpose of being an inclusive body, bringing in health operators, hospitals, physicians, the academic community and everyone else involved in the patient's journey.
Mission
To foster discussion and the search for innovative solutions for the transitional care hospital and clinic sector, contributing to its strength and sustainability.
Vision
To be recognised as the reference body in Brazil for transitional care hospitals and clinics.
Values
Excellence, ethics, leadership, safety, scientific knowledge, balance.
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 transitional care segment.
August 2023
An ABRAHCT sector survey records 2,745 beds dedicated to transitional 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 transitional 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.
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
Regulatory agenda
For a specific classification for transitional care.
Transitional care units sit within the regulatory framework for general acute care hospitals, even though their objectives and patient profiles 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.
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 supplementary health care, alerting its members to the risks and 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.
The association is led by a Board of Administration elected by the General Assembly, supported by three thematic committees: Scientific, Regulatory, and Communication and Market.
Take part in building the transitional care sector.
The association admits two categories of member — Full and Invited. The full requirements are on the Join page.