Health care providers have until September 30 to renew SHA contracts

 Chief Executive Officer Mercy Mwangangi at a past event. [File, Standard]

Healthcare providers across the country have until September 30 to renew their service contracts with the Social Health Authority (SHA) or risk being locked out of the scheme and barred from treating its beneficiaries.

SHA has warned that facilities that fail to execute new agreements under the 2026–2029 contracting cycle before the deadline will not be allowed to offer services to beneficiaries from October 1.

In a notice signed by Chief Executive Officer Mercy Mwangangi, the authority said existing contracts would expire on September 30, 2026, at 11.59 pm, requiring all facilities seeking to continue serving SHA beneficiaries to complete the renewal process before then.

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

SHA further warned that providers who fail to complete the contracting process would have their access to the SHA provider portal switched off, effectively preventing them from offering services to patients covered under the scheme.

Facilities have been urged to finalise their applications through the SHA E-Contracting Portal and meet all outstanding requirements before the deadline to avoid disruptions.

SHA also directed facilities that may not have completed the process by September 30 to make arrangements for patients receiving ongoing treatment to be transferred to contracted providers to ensure continuity of care.

“All providers are urged to complete outstanding contracting requirements promptly to avoid interruptions to services for beneficiaries,” the authority said.

The contracting deadline coincides with the expiry of an extended compliance period for healthcare facilities to meet the Health Management Information System (HMIS) requirements, which also ends on September 30.

Under the new arrangements, hospitals are required to have their digital systems certified and integrated with the Digital Health Agency (DHA) to remain eligible to provide services under SHA.