By Brazil Stock Guide – SulAmérica, Brazil’s fourth-largest health-insurance operator and now part of the Rede D’Or (RDOR3) group, has confirmed it will remove Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein from the provider network of certain health-plan lines starting December 31, 2025. The change affects individual and affinity plans, while corporate group plans are expected to remain unaffected.
According to a communication reviewed by Brazil Stock Guide, Albert Einstein will no longer serve beneficiaries of these products across emergency care, urgent care, clinical and surgical admissions, obstetrics, pediatrics, and adult and pediatric ICUs.
SulAmérica says it will ensure continuity of care through a “substitute provider,” though it does not specify which hospitals will replace Einstein. Market analysts expect Rede D’Or facilities to absorb part of this volume, although the insurer has not yet disclosed its revised network configuration.
The company does not detail the reasons for the termination, nor whether it stems from failed negotiations, pricing disputes or contractual restructuring — typically contentious issues in relationships with premium hospitals.
The decision raises broader questions about network reconfiguration after SulAmérica’s acquisition by Rede D’Or, a process marked by contract realignments, tighter authorization protocols and efforts to control medical inflation. For affected beneficiaries, the change means losing access to a hospital internationally recognized for complex care, clinical research and specialized treatment pathways.
The announcement also comes at a delicate moment for the company. As shown in Brazil Stock Guide’s recent analysis of data from ANS — Brazil’s national regulator for private health plans — SulAmérica has sharply increased its use of non-responses and claim denials (glosas), emerging as the sector’s largest dam of unpaid bills after 60 days.
This pattern intensified following its integration into Rede D’Or, with the insurer adopting tighter authorization flows and slower reimbursement cycles — consistent with the 41.8% non-response rate recorded in the first half of 2025 and with legacy portfolios reaching 89%. The shift reflects an operating model increasingly reliant on payment delays, freezing hospital revenue and heightening financial pressure across the care network.
The move also underscores a growing competitive clash in São Paulo, Brazil’s largest and most lucrative healthcare market. Rede D’Or — originally a Rio de Janeiro hospital network — has expanded aggressively into a state long dominated by powerful, century-old philanthropic institutions such as Albert Einstein, Sírio-Libanês and Hospital Alemão Oswaldo Cruz, while simultaneously building out its own premium Star units and the São Luiz network. Einstein’s removal from SulAmérica’s network highlights how commercial tensions between payers and hospitals are reshaping the high-end segment.
Brazil Stock Guide contacted Albert Einstein Hospital about SulAmérica’s plan removal, but the hospital has not yet responded. SulAmérica also declined to comment. The ANS was contacted but had not issued a statement by publication time.
Read more: ANS Confirms SulAmérica Will Drop Einstein From 234 Health Plans
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