Private hospitals have announced that they will refuse to treat any patients depending on National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) beginning in February.
This is according to the Kenya Association of Private Hospitals (KAPH) which said an agreement reached between them and NHIF has come to an end and no renewal talks have been initiated.
“Come Monday, January 31, which marks the end of our seven-month extension of the contract with NHIF, we, the private hospitals, won’t be in a position to offer services to patients depending on NHIF,” Mr. Olweny told the Standard.
He explained that during the last review which already ended in June 2021, NHIF had revised downwards the amount of money it pays for claims lodged by private facilities.
After expiry of the contract in June last year, NHUF and private hospitals extended services by another seven months, which comes to an end on January 31, 2022.
“In a previous structure, NHIF would pay Ksh.9,500 for each dialysis session. Dialysis patients require at least two sessions a week. In the new review, NHIF says it would charge Ksh.6,500 per session,” he said.
While referring to a case scenario of surgical removal of tonsils from a child, Mr. Olweny revealed that for private hospitals, the charges would range from Ksh.60,000 to Ksh.120,000.
“However, NHIF remits a maximum of Ksh.32,000 to private hospitals for the service. That is way below the amount of money that the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council recommends,” he noted.
Even though NHIF maintains that its new rates will allow the insurer to increase the number of beneficiaries, private hospitals stand to lose at least Ksh.6,000 per patient per week if the insurer sticks to the new rates.
