NAIROBI, Kenya — The Ministry of Health has clarified the transition from the Social Health Authority (SHA) Provider Portal to the Health Management Information System (HMIS), saying the move is intended to create a more integrated digital healthcare system and reduce administrative delays.
The ministry said Friday that confusion had emerged over the transition and explained that healthcare providers have been using separate digital platforms since the establishment of SHA.
According to the ministry, the Digital Health Agency (DHA) provided a portal through which healthcare providers could submit and transmit claims to SHA, particularly during the transition period.
At the same time, hospitals continued using their own HMIS platforms to manage day-to-day operations.
This meant some facilities had to work with two separate systems, which the ministry said created additional administrative work and, in some cases, contributed to longer processing and waiting times for patients.
HMIS To Become Primary Hospital System
The ministry said the ongoing transition is intended to make each hospital’s HMIS the primary platform for managing healthcare services and related information.
Under the integrated approach, healthcare workers will not have to repeatedly enter or transfer the same information between separate systems.
The HMIS will be designed to communicate with SHA and other relevant health-sector systems, allowing information captured at the point of care to flow to connected platforms.
“The broader objective is simple: one hospital system that can securely communicate with the different systems supporting healthcare delivery,” the ministry said.
It added that the approach was consistent with the principle that patients should not have to navigate multiple disconnected systems to receive healthcare services.
How Patients Could Benefit
The ministry said the integrated system is expected to reduce waiting times by cutting the amount of duplicated administrative work required of healthcare workers.
It also expects patient information to be captured and accessed more efficiently, without repeatedly entering the same details into different systems.
The ministry said properly integrated health records could improve continuity of care by allowing authorised healthcare professionals to access relevant patient information when required.
The system is also expected to improve the efficiency of admissions, consultations, procedures, billing and claims.
Digital records could further provide greater transparency by creating a clearer trail of services provided and claims submitted.
Benefits For Hospitals And Health Workers
For hospitals and healthcare workers, HMIS is expected to provide a single integrated workflow instead of separate systems for different functions.
Information captured during patient care could automatically flow to relevant systems, reducing repeated manual entry.
The system can also support the management of patients, staff, facilities, supplies, medicines, equipment and financial processes.
The ministry said capturing information once and using it across connected systems could improve data quality by reducing inconsistencies and errors associated with repeated data entry.
Hospital managers are also expected to receive more timely information for reporting, resource planning and service improvement.
SHA To Benefit From Integrated Claims
The ministry said SHA and other health insurers and payers could also benefit from the integration.
Claims generated from information captured during actual patient care are expected to be more accurate and timely, while integration could reduce manual processing and repeated data entry by healthcare providers.
The ministry said connecting claims more closely to patient encounters could strengthen verification and controls against fraud, errors, duplicate claims and unusual transactions.
It added that better-quality electronic information could support faster claims processing and payment, while aggregated data could help health-sector planning by providing information on service utilisation, resource requirements and emerging healthcare trends.
Health Facilities Get One-Month Extension
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health has granted health facilities an additional one-month extension to complete their transition to HMIS.
Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale announced the extension on Thursday, saying it was intended to give facilities that had not completed the migration additional time to comply with the directive.
“The Ministry of Health wishes to update the public and all stakeholders on the progress of the transition from the Provider Portal to the Health Management Information System (HMIS), as the country moves towards a fully digital and paperless health information system,” Duale said.
He urged facilities that have not completed the migration to expedite the process and seek technical assistance from the Digital Health Agency where necessary.
Patients Will Not Be Denied Treatment
Duale assured Kenyans that the migration would not disrupt access to healthcare services.
He said patients would continue receiving treatment at health facilities, including those that had not yet completed the transition to HMIS.
“The Ministry of Health emphasizes that no patient will be denied access to healthcare services because a facility has not yet fully transitioned to HMIS,” he said.
The ministry said the transition should therefore be viewed as part of a broader effort to connect healthcare systems rather than simply replacing the SHA Provider Portal with another platform.
“The objective is not simply to replace one portal with another. The bigger objective is to connect the different components of the healthcare ecosystem,” the ministry said.
