Healthcare Facilities On High Alert As Current SHA Contracts Expire September 30

Healthcare providers across the country have been placed on high alert as the Social Health Authority (SHA) announced that all current provider agreements will officially expire on September 30, 2026, at 11:59 p.m.

In a formal public notice, SHA Chief Executive Officer Dr. Mercy Mwangangi urged healthcare facilities seeking to continue treating SHA beneficiaries to complete their applications and execute new agreements before the midnight deadline on October 1.

“The Social Health Authority notifies all healthcare providers/ healthcare facilities that current provider contracts will expire on 30 September 2026 at 11:59 p.m.,” the statement read.

The authority cautioned that facilities without executed contracts for the upcoming 2026–2029 cycle will be barred from rendering services to beneficiaries. Furthermore, non-compliant facilities will have their credentials deactivated on the SHA provider portal, cutting off access to the scheme’s administrative and claims systems.

To prevent disruptions in patient care, SHA directed facilities unable to finalize their contracts in time to coordinate the transfer of patients undergoing active treatment to accredited, fully contracted health facilities.

The impending deadline marks the transition into a new three-year contracting cycle running from October 1, 2026, to June 30, 2029. The updated framework, dubbed HAKIKA, was officially rolled out alongside a digital E-Contracting Platform on September 18. Under the new structure, contracts will cover services funded through the Primary Health Care Fund (PHCF), Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF), Emergency, Chronic and Critical Illness Fund (ECCIF), and the Public Officers Medical Scheme Fund (POMSF).

The introduction of the E-Contracting Platform aims to streamline application submissions, document uploads, license verifications, and digital contract execution while resolving previous operational bottlenecks such as delayed claims, pre-authorization friction, and payment rejections. According to the Ministry of Health, the HAKIKA framework establishes clearer parameters regarding benefits, reimbursement timelines, quality benchmarks, and dispute resolution mechanisms.

Despite these administrative updates, the transition has generated anxiety among healthcare providers. Medical associations and private facility operators have raised concerns over specific contractual terms, particularly those governing claim deductions, liability obligations, and payment default protocols when state disbursements are delayed.