What a post-acute care and rehabilitation hospital is
The admission that sits between the hospital and going home, with rehabilitation at the centre of the care. Explained by the sector's association.
A post-acute care hospital is where a person stays to recover after the critical phase of an illness, when going home is not yet possible. The care is a rehabilitation programme: physiotherapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy and nursing, every day, so the patient can do again what the illness took away.
In Brazil these institutions are called hospital de transição, literally transitional hospital. In English the category is post-acute care, which is what this site uses: transitional care, in the international literature, names the discharge coordination model, not a type of establishment.
The patient's journey
Where the post-acute care hospital fits
Between leaving the acute hospital and going home there is a gap: the patient no longer needs intensive care, but cannot yet manage alone. That gap is what the post-acute care hospital covers.
- Before
Acute care hospital
The critical phase of the illness, when the risk is immediate.
This is where you go for the emergency, the surgery, intensive care. It deals with the acute problem: the infection, the stroke, the fracture, the sudden deterioration of a chronic condition. Once the condition stabilises, the patient is discharged from that hospital — and cannot always go straight home.
- Here
Post-acute care and rehabilitation hospital
The time to recover what the illness took away.
An admission for a defined period, with a rehabilitation programme at the centre of the care: doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, speech therapists, occupational therapists and dietitians working together so the patient can walk again, eat again, breathe unaided, wash without help. The family learns the care they will carry on at home. Discharge is the goal.
- After
Life after discharge
Home, with or without support.
Most people go home. Those who still need technical care continue with home care. Those who cannot live alone may move to an ILPI, which is housing, not an admission.
After discharge, three possible paths
- Home
- The expected outcome: the patient has regained enough autonomy for daily life.
- Home care
- The team comes to the house: dressings, intravenous medication, physiotherapy, nursing. The care continues, the address changes.
- ILPI, Brazil's care home
- Long-term care institution for older people: collective housing for people aged 60 or over (Anvisa, RDC 502/2021). The person goes to live there. It is not an admission and has no end date, which is why it is not the same as a post-acute care hospital.
Despite having a profile of its own, post-acute care hospitals and clinics sit within the regulatory framework for general acute care hospitals. ABRAHCT argues for a specific classification — understand the regulatory agenda in Committees.
Who it is for
The patient who has come through the acute phase — but still needs care.
The post-acute care hospital treats patients recovering from acute illness who are not yet able to return home. It is the stage at which the patient no longer requires the structure of an acute care hospital, but still needs continuous care before moving on to home care or to normal life at home.
In this setting, the institution also supports families and carers at a moment of high care demand — with the family actively involved.
The team
A whole team around the patient.
Post-acute care hospitals work with multidisciplinary teams specialised in recovery and rehabilitation programmes. The interdisciplinary team in these institutions brings together:
- Physicians
- Nurses
- Physiotherapists
- Speech and language therapists
- Occupational therapists
- Dietitians
- Psychologists
- Social workers
The model worldwide
Where the model comes from.
According to the sector's own account of its history, post-acute care hospitals emerged in Europe and North America in the late 1980s, out of the need for continuity of care in a hospital setting for patients with functional loss and a high degree of dependency. By those accounts, European countries and Canada are said to have between 10% and 25% of their hospital beds in the post-acute care category.
In Brazil, the model is still being established: in the private sector, the existing post-acute care hospitals account for a little over 1% of all private hospital beds. ABRAHCT's August 2023 survey recorded 2,745 beds dedicated to post-acute care in the country — growth of 101.6% on the 1,361 beds of 2018.
ABRAHCT survey released in August 2023, compared with the 1,361 beds in operation in 2018.
ABRAHCT represents the sector — it does not provide care.
The association does not arrange admissions or recommend treatment. A referral for admission is always made by the medical team caring for the patient. If you are looking for a unit for a relative or a patient, see the member institutions and contact each one directly.
For families
The questions of those deciding right now.
If you are here because a relative is being discharged from hospital and the doctor mentioned post-acute care, start with these.
The doctor mentioned a post-acute care hospital. What is that?
It is a hospital for the next stage of recovery, centred on rehabilitation. Your relative is past the critical phase but still needs care that cannot be given at home: fluids, oxygen, daily physiotherapy and speech therapy, relearning how to walk and swallow. They stay for a defined period, with the goal of regaining autonomy and going home.
Is it the same as a care home or nursing home?
No. A care home, a nursing home and an ILPI are housing: the person goes to live there, with no end date. A post-acute care hospital is an admission with an end date, a clinical team and a recovery goal. They are different things, for different needs.
How long does the admission last?
It depends on the case and on the team caring for the patient. It is longer than a stay in an acute hospital, because regaining function takes time, and it has an expected discharge date from the outset.
How do we get a place?
It starts inside the hospital where the patient is admitted. Talk to the doctor in charge and to the hospital's social work or discharge team: they make the transfer request and know the institutions in the area. If there is private health insurance, the operator has to authorise it, and its helpline is what tells you which providers are covered. ABRAHCT is the sector association: it does not admit patients, arrange places or recommend treatment.
Who pays for the admission?
In most cases, private health insurance or the family. Cover depends on the contract, and the operator confirms it before the admission. There is also a much smaller share of beds serving the public health system: the survey released by Medicina S/A in April 2025 recorded 181 such beds out of 2,573 in operation. Ask the hospital's social work team what exists in your area.
Still have a question?
Questions about definitions, timeframes and how the sector works are gathered in Frequently asked questions.