Hospitals and clinics that want to keep treating patients covered by Kenya's public health insurance have until October 14 to sign new contracts under a framework called HAKIKA, and the government says the date will not move for county hospitals.
HAKIKA is the name the Social Health Authority (SHA), the body that runs the insurance, gave its 2026–2029 contracting cycle, the Ministry of Health said in its launch statement.
Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale opened it on September 18 at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre in Nairobi, Kenya's capital.
The Ministry's statement treats HAKIKA and the E-Contracting Platform as two different things. HAKIKA is the framework of contracts.
The platform is the website where providers apply, upload documents, check licences, sign and follow their progress.
The two were launched together.
The Ministry said HAKIKA sets clearer terms on benefits, payment, quality standards and dispute resolution.
It follows SHA's first cycle, which ran from 2024 to 2026.
The new contracts run from October 1, 2026 to June 30, 2029, a little under three years.
According to Kenya Times, contracts are generally expected to run three years, subject to mid-cycle performance reviews and continued compliance.
Four funds fall under the contracts: primary health care, social health insurance, emergency, chronic and critical illness, and a medical scheme for public officers.
People Daily reported in April that the last one covers civil servants, teachers and the disciplined services.
SHA said it is contracting under sections 33 and 34 of the Social Health Insurance Act, 2023, which require it to contract providers, a Kenya Times report noted.
SHA's website lists five steps:
1. The facility creates an account for itself and its administrator.
2. It confirms its details using its facility ID or licence number.
3. It completes the e-contract.
4. It submits the contract and has a witness co-sign it.
5. It tracks the contract's status and renews it from its dashboard.
Providers had to submit fresh applications through the platform from 3 p.m. on September 17, a Kenya Times report on SHA's notice said.
New providers must also finish SHA's eligibility and verification checks before they can serve patients.
When the original contracts expired on September 30, SHA extended them by 14 days to October 14, The Standard reported.
Providers received the extension through the same platform and were asked to accept, sign and return it within three days, Kenya Times reported.
Payment is where hospitals pushed back hardest.
As The Standard reported before the launch, the draft said SHA would pay claims within 90 days, about three months.
That applied only if the relevant fund had the money and the National Assembly had approved it.
Hospitals said this could leave them carrying the cost when SHA pays late.
SHA links delays to claims that are incomplete or wrong, The Standard reported in a separate story.
Three groups asked for more time to read the draft: the Rural and Urban Private Hospitals Association of Kenya, the Christian Health Association of Kenya and the Kenya Association of Private Hospitals.
They said they represent more than 3,000 facilities, a report by The Standard noted.
SUPPORT INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM
Help keep health journalism independent
I report and explain important health and medical stories independently, with accuracy, context and African relevance. Your support helps me continue this work.
SHA then received 188 unique responses from providers, which produced 422 comments across the contract's five sections, Kenya Times reported.
It said the final contract provides for:
- valid claims to be paid within 90 days, in the order received
- providers to be told when a payment will be late
- incomplete claims to be sent back for correction instead of rejected
- deadlines to pause when SHA's platform is down, with 48 hours to submit once it is restored
The reports reviewed do not say whether the final contract keeps the funding condition.
The Star reported on September 28 that stakeholders were still objecting to it, along with a clause saying no interest is added to late payments.
On October 5, Duale and the health committee of the Council of Governors, which represents Kenya's county governments, agreed that contracts for county public hospitals will not be extended beyond October 14, The Star reported.
Duale wrote on his official X account that the date is "not an end to SHA services," People Daily reported.
He added that eligible facilities must finish contracting to keep serving SHA patients without interruption.
Under the deal, Citizen Digital reported, county facilities sign one set of general terms and then separate contracts for each fund.
Each hospital keeps its own contract, with payments going to its own account.
Eastleigh Voice reported that county governments are recognised as contracting parties.
Facilities meeting every other requirement get 30 days, about a month, to submit five outstanding compliance documents, The Star reported.
These include certificates on social security, environment, fire safety, disability and data protection.
Hospitals face one more condition that is easy to confuse with HAKIKA.
The Star reported on September 28 that hospitals must have digital systems certified and integrated with the government's Digital Health Agency to stay eligible.
The software is called a health management information system, or HMIS, a digital system for recording and sharing patient and claims information.
The Ministry has set October 30 for the HMIS move and said it should not interrupt patient care.
That deadline is separate from the October 14 contract date.
SHA said on October 1 that 10,006 providers had told it they wanted contracts and were at different stages, Kenya Times reported.
The figure counts interest, not signed contracts, and the reports reviewed do not say how many have finished.
Reports also describe the treatment of unpaid claims at county hospitals slightly differently.
The Standard reported that they become recognised debts and the first charge on the next appropriation, the money Parliament approves, with settlement required within the same financial year.
The Star's account says they are carried forward for settlement within the same financial year, subject to approved funds.
Citizen Digital described them only as a first charge on the following year's appropriation.
Sources:Ministry of Health, HAKIKA launch statement, 18 September 2026
Ministry of Health, forum statement on HMIS and SHA contracting, October 2026
SHA e-contracting platform, econtracting.sha.go.ke
Tabnacha Odeny, The Star, 5 October 2026; Emmanuel Wanjala, The Star, 28 September 2026
Mike Kihaki, The Standard, 5 October 2026; Mercy Kahenda, The Standard, September 2026; The Standard, September and 1 October 2026
Faith Mwangi, Kenya Times, 1 October 2026; Kenya Times, 17 September 2026
People Daily, 5 October and 15 April 2026; Citizen Digital, October 2026; Eastleigh Voice, October 2026
.jpeg){kind=logo}
