Gov't, governors strike deal on SHA contracting for county health facilities

The agreement was reached during a consultative meeting held at Afya House on Monday, October 5, chaired by Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale and CoG Health Committee Chairperson Abdulswamad Shariff Nassir.

According to a joint communiqué issued after the meeting, the parties agreed to adopt a modular contracting system aimed at simplifying the process through which county health facilities enter into agreements with SHA.

Under the arrangement, healthcare providers will execute the Master General Terms and Conditions once before entering into separate contracts covering specific funds and services.

These include the Primary Healthcare Fund, Social Health Insurance Fund, Emergency, Chronic and Critical Illness Fund and the Public Officers Medical Scheme Fund.

Each public health facility will retain an individual contract in accordance with the Social Health Insurance Act, 2023, and the Facilities Improvement Financing Act, 2023.

The framework will also ensure payments are made directly into each facility's designated improvement financing account.

County governments will meanwhile be recognised as contracting parties, with contracts requiring clearance from the respective County Attorney before they are executed.

The parties also agreed to ease some of the documentation requirements that counties had raised concerns over.

SHA will accept locally available county documents for facility registration, including establishment instruments, gazettements, KRA PINs, tax compliance letters, NSSF compliance verification and Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) registrations.

A 30-day compliance window has also been granted for facilities yet to obtain five documents, including NSSF compliance certificates, NEMA licences, fire safety certificates, National Council for Persons with Disabilities compliance certificates and ODPC certificates.

Facilities that meet the other requirements will be conditionally contracted as they work to obtain the outstanding documents within the 30-day period.

Regulatory licences for laboratories, pharmacies and imaging services will, however, remain mandatory for Level 4 and Level 5 facilities.

Facilities without all the required licences may still be contracted for individual services for which they have valid certification.

On payment of claims, the government, governors and SHA agreed that all clean claims must be settled within 90 days of receipt and processed in the order in which they are received.

Where there is a funding shortfall, affected facilities must be notified within seven days.

Unpaid clean claims will subsequently be converted into certified liabilities and treated as a first charge on the following financial year's appropriation.

Existing contracts have meanwhile been extended until October 14, 2026, to prevent disruption of healthcare services as facilities transition to the new contracting framework.

SHA will also conduct daily HAKIKA contracting clinics to assist facilities through the process and provide weekly progress reports to the Council of Governors until all eligible facilities have been contracted.