NHIF Headquarters in Nairobi. CFM-FILE.
NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 19 – The National Health and Insurance Fund (NHIF) has transferred the function of accreditation of hospitals to the Ministry of Health (MoH) following allegations of misuse of funds by some NHIF-accredited hospitals.
During a press briefing on Monday, NHIF board Vice Chairperson, Roba Duba said that the fund will only contract from the list prepared by the health ministry and medical board.
“Following the recommendation of Health Financing Reforms Expert Panel (HEFREP), accreditation of hospitals has transitioned to the Ministry of Health and other health regulatory bodies such as Kenya Health Professionals Oversight Authority (KHPOA) and Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC),” a statement issued by the board indicated.
Previously, NHIF was responsible for accrediting and reimbursing hospitals.
However, a section of leaders and contributors raised concerns that some of the hospitals are colluding with the insurer to create false medical bills.
During the presser, the board distanced itself from graft cases painting the health insurance institution in bad light.
Duba said some of the corruption cases highlighted are historical dating back to 2012.
The NHIF was rocked by graft reports in 2018 which saw the ouster of 20 top officials including its then Chief Executive Officer Geoffrey Mwangi charged in court, leading to an overhaul of the institution which resulted to the appointment of a new board.
The fund’s board announced that it had restructured its 2019/2020 budget dealing a major blow to the publicity sector whose budget was slashed from Sh753 million to Sh100 million.
The fund’s budget was reduced by a whooping Sh1.1 billion in budget cuts geared at lowering administrative costs.
Bank charges and commissions were also lowered from Sh315 million to Sh45 million while the travel and accommodation budget was slashed from Sh312 million to Sh290 million.
The board’s Vice Chairperson said the changes will see current administrative costs reduced from 14 per cent of the total membership collections to below 10 per cent.
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