On Monday, January 31, the Ministry of Health struck a deal with the private hospitals that would see the stalemate between them and the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) temporarily resolved.
Health Cabinet Secretary (CS) Mutahi Kagwe, NHIF Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Peter Kamunyo and various private hospitals held a consultative meeting to deliberate on a directive issued last week.
Consequently, private hospitals resolved to continue allowing NHIF cardholders to access medical services in their facilities until June 30th.
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke, the Kenya Association of Private Hospitals (KAPH) Head of Communications, Joseph Otieno, confirmed that an agreement had been reached, but consultations were still being held.
“That one is an agreement we made but there were still some things being tagged. It is not a fully concluded one,” he stated.
On January 27, private hospitals announced that they will not be accepting NHIF as a mode of payment, citing foul play by the national insurer in payment of claims.
"Yes, they (NHIF) at times don't even end up paying (in claims). We are compiling a number of complaints from our facilities before releasing an official report," he stated.
Private hospitals accused NHIF of not involving them in the development of the benefit packages and in the 2022-2024 contract as envisaged in the constitution.
The contract proposed that the former would dictate what doctors charge, the cost of procedures and what specialists would be paid. As such, they decided to put on hold the contract until a meeting is held on a mutually agreed new contract.
NHIF and private hospitals have been at crossroads over a number of issues. Recently, more than 800 private hospitals had sued NHIF over the newly introduced biometric registration.
The hospitals claimed that they were given a limited time to comply with the new changes- which further affected patients' access to the service. In addition, they reckoned that the biometric system is not recognised by the NHIF Act.
