Beneficências São José in fierce dispute with premium hospitals
Valor Econômico
Open in 2007 by Beneficência Portuguesa (Portuguese Beneficence Society), the São José Hospital opens, next quarter, a new Oncology Center to compete with the hospitals intended for the high income public. The first action in that regard is the hiring of oncologist Antonio Buzaid, well-known doctor of the Syrian-Lebanese Hospital since 1998. As of March, Buzaid will head a group with 70 professionals, the largest team of specialists of São José. "We want to double our earnings and the area of Oncology will be the main responsible for the growth", said Luiz Koiti, General Superintendent of the Portuguese Beneficence, who negotiated, for a year, the hiring of Buzaid.
The Portuguese Beneficence hospital group - that includes the São José and the São Joaquim (official name of hospital known as Beneficência Portuguesa - Portuguese Beneficence) - does not reveal the income of each hospital. Last year, the earnings of the group amounted to R$ 454 million (US$ 230.5 million). In 2007, when the São José had not yet been inaugurated, the income of the Beneficence amounted to R$ 355.8 million (US$ 184.4 million).
The São José will receive investments of R$ 5 million (US$ 2.94 million) in the Oncology Center, which will have apartments of up to 75 square meters. The expectation is that 9.6 thousand private patients or from health plans receive assistance every year. The goal is that, gradually, the São Joaquim also gains an area of Oncology and competes with the A.C. Camargo hospital in the public of classes C and D and that the São José dispute with the Syrian-Lebanese in classes A and B, said Koiti.
Intended for the premium public, the São José hospital was built so that its profit was reverted to the São Joaquim, where 60% of the patients receive assistance by means of the Brazilian Health Care System (SUS). Because of the underpayment offered by the SUS to the hospitals, of each procedure carried out in the Beneficence hospital, a part of the cost is paid by the very hospital. The Beneficence, headed by the Ermírio de Moraes family since the 1950s, provides assistance to nearly 300 thousand SUS patients that represent 24% of the income.
To change the current situation, the Beneficence is investing to increase the number of private clients and clients insured by health plans. To do so, there is a program, initiated in 2010, to invest R$ 160 million (US$ 94.1 million) in five years with the purpose of modernizing and sophisticating its infrastructure and, thus, attract such public. As it enters the area of Oncology, the São José follows the movement of other hospitals that are strongly investing in the treatment of cancer.