Health Cabinet Secretary Hon Aden Duale has said that Social Health Insurance Funds (SHIF) will be channelled directly to medical facilities across the country.

This will be a departure from the past, when the money from the defunct National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) was channelled to the County Revenue Fund for distribution to the health facilities within the county as payment for the services rendered.

According to Duale, the payment of the new fund directly to the health facilities is to help provide adequate drugs and other health commodities and ensure that the health facilities get their funds in time.

Appearing before the National Assembly Delegated Legislation Committee, chaired by Ainabkoi MP Samuel Chepkonga, Duale was categorical that the registration on the Social Health Authority (SHA) will soon clock 22 million Kenyans who will now directly benefit from the services.

County revenue

“We are paying the health facilities every 14th of the month directly. What used to happen before under NHIF is that money would be paid to County Revenue first, before they sent it to the health facilities. Under this system, money is sent directly to the facilities,” said Duale.

While assuring the lawmakers that SHA is working, Duale said that his administration will ensure that any Kenyan who has registered will receive medical care from Level II to Level IV in any health facility, including public, private and faith-based institutions.

He said that the Digital Health system would enable any perso,n as long as the person is registered, to walk into any facility and be treated.

“Kenyans will not carry any file or a card to be treated. Once you are registered, you will walk into any health facility, whether it is a public hospital, private, or faith-based and get treated,” said Duale.

“We will be moving around the country to rally Kenyans to enrol with the Social Health Authority since there is a lot of negative information out there, but eventually this will turn out to be one of the best decisions made by the Kenya Kwanza administration,” said Duale.

Vulnerable persons

He said the Ministry is compiling data on the most vulnerable individuals in society to be handed over to the Social Protection Programme and the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) for support on the SHA payment.

Duale stated that the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) will be receiving its payment for drugs from the SHA directly to reduce the backlog of funds that facilities run by the National and County Governments are owed.

He had appeared before the committee to discuss the proposed regulations for the Digital Health Act.

The regulations aim to establish an integrated digital healthcare system while ensuring robust data protection.

Data exchange and Health information management procedures regulations will provide a framework for digital health services and the development of a comprehensive, integrated digital health information system.

Duale told the lawmakers that the Digital Health law would enhance healthcare delivery in Kenya by leveraging advanced technology, supporting the rollout of the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF), and cracking down on unqualified practitioners. He reaffirmed his commitment to serving Kenyans in line with the Government’s transformative agenda and urged Ministry staff to uphold the same dedication.

Digital Health (Data Exchange) regulations stipulates that the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) environment of the system shall include an Enterprise Service Bus, which shall route messages between certified digital health solutions, monitor and control the routing of exchange of messages between certified digital health solutions.

In addition, the ICT will resolve conflicts between communicating service components, control the onboarding and versioning of certified digital health solutions, and provide common services including event handling, data transformation and mapping, message and event queuing and sequencing, security or exception handling and protocol conversion.

“The Agency shall maintain an inventory of health data controllers of the certified digital health solutions onboarded onto the enterprise service bus in accordance with regulation 7,” reads part of the regulations.

According to the Digital Health (Health Information Management) regulations, the Kenya Health Data Governance Framework shall be the reference document for the management of health data and shall govern the collection, access, sharing and use of health data.