The Mater Dei Network saw the crisis at Oncoclínicas as an opportunity to advance in the oncology segment. With nine hospitals in Brazil – six in Minas Gerais, two in Bahia, and one in Goiás – the plan consists of increasing its presence in the specialty by hiring doctors from the competitor, advancing in more profitable procedures such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and investing in more medical equipment.

The goal is for oncology to achieve 30% revenue growth by 2026, which will represent double the projected growth for the entire company, which is 15%. Today, oncology accounts for nearly 20% of total revenue.

“We are implementing benchmark projects in each of the regions where we operate and growing in the vacuum created by problems faced by other players in the sector,” says José Henrique Salvador, CEO of Rede Mater Dei, to NeoFeed .

Oncoclínicas had 2,900 oncologists on its staff in the first quarter of 2025. Now, in the balance for the first three months of 2026, the group reported 1,700 doctors, representing a 41.4% drop in 12 months.

Currently, Mater Dei has approximately 8,200 employees, not counting doctors. The healthcare professionals work in a partnership format, where they are paid by the health insurance companies. On the other end, the hospital network earns money from procedures, exams, and hospitalizations. Today, the group has registered approximately 10,000 doctors from all specialties.

In this sense, Mater Dei benefits from being present in two markets where Oncoclínicas was also very strong, especially in Belo Horizonte and Salvador.

In the two most recently opened hospital units inaugurated by the group, Mater Dei Salvador (in May 2022) and Mater Dei Nova Lima (in August 2024), the plan to expand the oncology network has been further intensified.

In Nova Lima, for example, the volume of surgical procedures has grown by 70% in the last 12 months. In Salvador, the increase was 30%. Among cancer patients alone, the rise was 50% at the hospital in the capital of Bahia.

"Oncology has a characteristic of being able to grow without necessarily needing many more beds, because much of the revenue comes from laboratory infusions, with chemotherapy. The vast majority do not require hospitalization," says the CEO.

The company also sees an opportunity for a new expansion front, which is the development of advanced units, without the need for a more robust structure, but with the capacity to offer the main services. Today the company has a unit in Mariana, Minas Gerais, and plans two more projects.

In a recent report, Itaú BBA identified the opportunity for growth in oncology as an important avenue for growth for the group founded by the Salvador family.

"The recent attraction of groups of oncologists in Nova Lima and Salvador illustrates this approach, bringing incremental patient flows, largely from health insurance providers with whom Mater Dei already has a relationship, thus strengthening vertical integration," says the bank's analysis.

The first operation in São Paulo

The strategic plan to expand the oncology segment throughout the network will also be implemented at the hospital unit that Mater Dei will have in São Paulo, which will represent its entry into the capital of São Paulo.

To achieve this, the company created a joint venture with Atlântica Hospitais, the healthcare holding company of Bradesco Seguros, in which Mater Dei holds a 49% stake. Today, Atlântica Hospitais is part of Bradsaúde , announced in February and listed on the B3 stock exchange through a reverse IPO.

The R$600 million for the construction of the São Paulo hospital will come from Bradesco, through BSP Empreendimentos Imobiliários. Operational management will be handled by the Minas Gerais-based network.

Construction begins in June, and the hospital, which will be named Mater Dei Santana, is expected to be completed by the end of 2028. The two companies will share the costs of equipment, which will amount to R$ 100 million.

The creation of the joint venture between Mater Dei and Atlântica Hospitais occurred well before the merger between Atlântica and Rede D'Or, which took place in 2025 and led to the creation of Atlântica D'Or , now managing six hospitals.

But, according to the CEO of Mater Dei, there is no possibility of direct competition with them in the same region. According to Salvador, this is even guaranteed in the contract.

“We knew that Atlântica would have other partners. But they have a rule that a hospital they build in partnership cannot compete with another nearby. It doesn't make sense for them to have another hospital in the North Zone of São Paulo, because that would cannibalize and reduce profitability,” he says.

According to him, the average ticket price in São Paulo should be higher than the network in general, but slightly lower than in regions like Morumbi and Avenida Paulista, where competitors such as Albert Einstein, São Luiz and Sírio-Libanês are located.

“We are aiming for high quality in the North Zone of São Paulo, a region with two million inhabitants and approximately 500,000 potential users of our hospital. This is almost our entire addressable market in Salvador,” he states.

Although the partnership with Bradesco was initially focused on the construction of the São Paulo hospital, the CEO acknowledges that the alliance will contribute to synergy with the health insurance provider in Mater Dei's other hospitals in Brazil.

Investments

In addition to increasing its workforce in relation to its clinical staff, Mater Dei plans to invest R$ 100 million this year, which includes the new strategic growth plan for its hospital network.

“These are structural changes in units, purchases of equipment to meet the growing demand, and advancements in technological infrastructure. And part of these resources will address this projected growth in oncology,” says Salvador.

In terms of the number of beds, the network currently has approximately 1,400 beds. In its first-quarter report, the company reported a volume of 1,168 operational beds. The occupancy rate reached 84.3%, an increase of 4.6 percentage points compared to the same period in 2025.

In 2025, the hospital group created in Minas Gerais recorded net revenue of R$ 2.17 billion, with growth of 11.4% over the previous year. In the first quarter of 2026, it reached R$ 575 million, an increase of 15.1%.

In 12 months, the company's shares have accumulated a 12.2% increase on the B3 stock exchange. Rede Mater Dei has a market value of R$ 1.7 billion.