{"id":17234,"date":"2025-03-05T14:23:24","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T14:23:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/?p=17234"},"modified":"2025-03-05T14:23:25","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T14:23:25","slug":"health-ministry-expands-social-health-authority-benefits-enhances-service-delivery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/?p=17234","title":{"rendered":"Health Ministry Expands Social Health Authority Benefits, Enhances Service Delivery."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"275\" height=\"183\" src=\"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Untitled-3-4.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-17235\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In a <strong>major boost<\/strong> to <strong>Universal Health Coverage (UHC)<\/strong>, the <strong>Ministry of Health<\/strong> has <strong>increased benefits<\/strong> under the <strong>Social Health Authority (SHA)<\/strong> to improve healthcare access and restore public confidence in the new system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a <strong>Wednesday statement<\/strong>, the ministry announced a <strong>sixfold increase<\/strong> in <strong>High Dependency Unit (HDU) and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) coverage<\/strong>, raising the amount from <strong>Ksh.4,600 to Ksh.28,000<\/strong>. According to <strong>Health Cabinet Secretary Deborah Barasa<\/strong>, this measure aims to <strong>shield patients from out-of-pocket expenses<\/strong> for critical care services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, the <strong>oncology care package<\/strong> has been <strong>expanded from Ksh.400,000 to Ksh.550,000 per household<\/strong>, making <strong>cancer treatment more affordable<\/strong> for Kenyan families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Addressing SHA Challenges<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Since its <strong>rollout five months ago<\/strong>, SHA has faced <strong>systemic challenges<\/strong> that have <strong>hindered service delivery<\/strong>. The ministry is implementing <strong>key reforms<\/strong> to resolve these issues, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Integration of 15 high-volume hospitals<\/strong> into the <strong>Health Information Exchange (HIE) system<\/strong> to facilitate <strong>seamless patient data sharing<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Establishment of a 24-hour call center<\/strong> to offer <strong>real-time assistance<\/strong> to patients and healthcare providers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Nationwide training on claims processing<\/strong> to enhance efficiency and <strong>ensure timely payments<\/strong> to health facilities.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Implementation of a claim-tracking dashboard<\/strong> for <strong>hospitals and county governments<\/strong> to <strong>monitor payments in real time<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The ministry has assured Kenyans that these interventions will <strong>enhance service delivery<\/strong> and ensure the <strong>SHA functions effectively<\/strong> in delivering <strong>quality, accessible healthcare<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a major boost to Universal Health Coverage (UHC), the Ministry of Health has increased benefits under the Social Health Authority (SHA) to improve healthcare access and restore public confidence in the new system. In a Wednesday statement, the ministry announced a sixfold increase in High Dependency Unit (HDU) and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) coverage, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":17235,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,13,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-health","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Untitled-3-4.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17234"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17236,"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17234\/revisions\/17236"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}