Carlos Marinelli, Denise Santos and Jeane Tsutsui — Foto: Ana Paula Paiva/Valor

With an investment of R$678 million, BP (Beneficência Portuguesa), Fleury and Bradesco Seguros (through Atlântica Hospitais, the insurer’s the hospitals and clinics arm) have joined forces to create a company specialized in oncology. The investment, which will be made in the first five years of operation of the new project, is intended for the construction of clinics and cancer centers in the country. Each one of the partners will have a 33% stake, and the investment will be in the same proportion.

The laboratories of the Fleury group, whose main shareholder is Bradesco Seguros, and the medical clinics of Atlântica, which has 27 units in seven states, may be service providers of this new company, whose name is still being defined. Surgeries, on the other hand, will be in charge of the Beneficência Portuguesa Hospital in the case of patients in São Paulo. In other cities, the idea is that the more complex cases will be executed at the new company’s own cancer centers or accredited hospitals. This new company will operate nationwide and the service can be provided through healthcare plans or privately.

“Besides the investment in the structure, we will put our expertise, doing oncology research in this new company,” BP CEO Denise Santos said. “It is a way of expanding our knowledge of so many years in oncology in Brazil.”

With this partnership, the hospital group, the network of medical diagnosis and the health insurance company will invest at the same time in cancer treatment — one of the diseases with the highest incidence in the world, and with an estimated 66,300 new cases this year in Brazil — and a medical service model known as integrated care. In this format, which is one of the world’s main trends in the sector, health companies participate in all stages of medical care.

The verticalized operators were the first to bet on this model as a tool to reduce costs and trim the dependence on health service providers that gain in volume. At the other end of the chain, about three years ago, medical diagnosis company Dasa was the first to adopt this concept of integrated care by also investing in hospitals to participate in the entire chain.

In 2020, Fleury decided to diversify its business and is also betting on medical clinics to be present in yet another link of the chain. “Considering the aging population and the consequent increase in cancer cases, early diagnosis is essential,” Fleury CEO Jeane Tsutsui said.

According to Carlos Marinelli, general director of Atlântica Hospitais, the boarding of Bradesco Seguros in the business “is a way for the insurer to participate in the healthcare value chain.” Last year, the insurance company created a healthcare arm to invest in hospitals. According to sources, this strategy intensified after SulAmérica, its main competitor, was sold to Rede D’Or. In this scenario, there are also uncertainties about the future of UnitedHealth, owner of Amil, in Brazil and the merger between the verticalized operators Hapvida and NotreDame Intermédica, which together have more than 80 hospitals.

Mr. Marinelli, who started discussing the creation of the new oncology company before the pandemic, when he was still CEO of Fleury, explains that there are synergies between the new company and Atlântica’s network of clinics. “Patients who have finished their cancer treatment can be followed up by a doctor from our clinics,” said Mr. Marinelli.

The executive added that the service contracts of the Atlântica clinics and the accreditation of Bradesco Saúde with the new company will have the same market criteria. The creation of the new company still depends on the approval of the antitrust regulator CADE.

Source: Valor International

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