The National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) has added 204
public, private and faith-based hospitals and dispensaries to its list
of accredited facilities, offering Kenyans more places to access
healthcare.
The move comes amidst a prolonged
nationwide nurses’ strike that has seen more than 50 per cent of public
health facilities remain closed since June, causing suffering and
deaths, especially of hundreds of mothers during childbirth.
If
the strike comes to an end, it means that the over 6.5 million NHIF
members would have more places to access both inpatient and outpatient
services.
At least nine sub-county hospitals have been NHIF-accredited to offer both inpatient and outpatient services.
Some
of the country’s top hospitals such as Aga Khan Hospital Kitengela,
Gertrude’s Garden Children’s Hospital Nairobi West Clinic, Getrude’s
Garden Children’s Hospital Nyali Medical Clinic and the Texas Cancer
Centre Eldoret are among those listed for outpatient and inpatient
services.
“The newly added facilities met the requirements for accreditation and the Fund is set to sign contracts with them so that they start offering services,” NHIF chief executive Geoffrey Mwangi said.
“The newly added facilities met the requirements for accreditation and the Fund is set to sign contracts with them so that they start offering services,” NHIF chief executive Geoffrey Mwangi said.
“We are geared towards providing more services and the more the hospitals the more the access to quality healthcare.”
Out of the new total, 18 facilities will cover eye, radiology, dental and laboratory services.
NHIF
has also revised upwards the rebates for three facilities out of the
204. Rebates are the amount payable to a facility per bed per day.
The
list includes Jumuia Friends Hospital in Vihiga (from Sh2,200 to
Sh3,000), Lumakanda County Hospital in Kipkaren (from Sh800 to Sh1,600)
and Woodlands Hospital in Mandera from (Sh1,400 to Sh1,800).
“We
have increased the amount payable to the three hospitals as they can
now see our members comprehensively as medical inpatients,” said Mr
Mwangi.
In August, NHIF launched a crackdown on
hospitals making fake claims especially on digansotic services such as
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and the computed tomography (CT) scan.
Mr
Mwangi earlier said that hospitals were taking advantage of the
insurer’s quick settlement of claims to make money fraudulently.
Facilities
now have to send a pre-authorisation request for specialised services
to the Fund through an online platform before conducting any procedure
on a patient.
“This was rolled out to curb fraud,” Mr Mwangi said.
“There
is no way we can stop giving services to our members who remit their
money every month. The problem is with hospitals and not patients. We
are taking these measures to ensure order.”
Salaried
NHIF members and banded members earning over Sh100,000 are currently
paying Sh1,700 monthly towards the fund while those self-employed pay
Sh500 monthly.
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