Private hospitals have agreed to continue offering services to National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) cardholders.
This follows a closed-door meeting between officials of the Ministry of Health, NHIF and stakeholders in the private and faith-based health sector.
During the meeting, the Kenya Association of Private Hospitals (KPHA) and the Ministry of Health reached a temporary deal to continue offering services to NHIF holders until March 31, 2021.
In a statement issued on Monday, NHIF CEO Peter Kamunyo said the deal will allow room for further talks.
NHIF Chairman Lewis Nguyai said contracts between the insurer and other providers would be signed after March and effected from July 1, 2022.
“During this period the Fund shall undertake bi-weekly stakeholder engagements on the benefits package for a period of two months to end on 31st March 2022,” stated Kamunyo.
“This will further allow the formulation of the new regulations under the NHIF (Amendment) Act No. 1 of 2022 noting that the process requires a parliamentary sitting for approval.”
KPHA chair Abdi Mohammed said the parties would come up with a plan that would be beneficial for all parties.
“Both NHIF and private hospitals have to be sustainable. We will continue with the old contracts as we start the conversation of the new contracts,” Abdi said.
The new deal comes after private hospitals had threatened to halt services for NHIF card bearers starting Monday, January 31
