Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on private hospitals in Brazil

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the operational and/or financial impacts of regulatory measures implemented by the National Agency for Supplementary Health and government health departments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic on a group of 118 private hospitals affiliated with the National Association of Private Hospitals. METHODS: This study used a quantitative methodological design of descriptive, cross-sectional, and retrospective studies, utilizing secondary data provided by the National Agency for Supplementary Health. RESULTS: There was a -20.1% reduction in hospital admissions and hospital occupancy rate and a decrease of -4.4 percentage points in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization margins. Additionally, the average length of hospital stay increased by +0.5, while total expenses for hospital leaves and total net revenue for hospital leaves increased by +39.4% and +23.6%, respectively. Comparing the participation of the different International Classification of Diseases, according to ICD-10 in 2019 and 2020, revealed the following variations in percentage points of hospitalizations. Hospitalizations for infectious diseases (including COVID-19), treatment of neoplasms, and pregnancy increased by +2.1, +2.4, and +1.2, respectively. However, hospitalizations for respiratory diseases decreased by -4.1. CONCLUSION: The most critical period of the pandemic required the redirection of activities to concentrate efforts on caring for COVID-19 cases. This situation highlighted the non-prioritization of primary care, as many problems presented by patients not affected by COVID-19 had to be referred to emergency services when and if appropriate.