According to the Kenya Association of Private Hospitals (KAPH) the agreement was reached after talks between them and NHIF for renewal of services failed to be intitated.
KAPH Secretary General Timothy Olweny said they arrived at the decision to boycott NHIF due to new terms of engagement that do not favor their establishments.
“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 a local news outlet .
Mr Olweny told the news outlet that during the last review which ended in June 2021,the insurer had revised downwards the amount of money it pays for claims lodged by private facilities.
After expiry of the contract in June last year, NHIF and private hospitals had extended services by another seven months, which comes to an end on Monday, January 31, 2022.
The KAPH boss said during the last review which is undertaken after every 3 months, costs of services such as dialysis and surgical services were significantly slashed to about 50 per cent.
“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.
Even though NHIF still maintains that the new rates will allow the insurer to increase the number of people benefiting from its services, KAPH insists that private hospitals would lose at least Ksh.6,000 per patient per week if the insurer was to effect the new rates.
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