The National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) has commenced a new benefits package for the 2022/2024 contracting cycle effective today.
Through a public notice, the NHIF noted that the new hospital contracts present new opportunities for its members to access quality and essential care services for both inpatient and outpatient services.
“For continuous access to outpatient services NHIF members are reminded to choose, change or confirm their preferred outpatient facilities by dialling *155# downloading “My NHIF” application or visiting the NHIF website www.nhif.or.ke,” the notice indicated.
Speaking at a press briefing yesterday, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe noted that Kenyans will access services in more than 7,600 healthcare facilities spread across the country of which 80 per cent are comprehensively contracted.
“The strategic standardisation of hospital contracts is critical to increasing quality care, efficiency, and productivity which is critical for the implementation of Universal health coverage (UHC) in our country,” he said.
According to the Kenya Essential Package for Health (KEPH) levels Kenya, the contracts aim to standardize reimbursement rates across all HCPs.
They have been divided into two categories: comprehensive within the scope and non-comprehensive.
“The reimbursement amount has been enhanced by an average 12 per cent and standardized across all providers. Oncology has been expanded to include bone scans and radionuclide therapy and access to pet scans and access increased to 3 providers,” Kagwe noted.