An investigation into the business environmental factors and the perceived implications of the NSHIF bill 2004 in Kenya (a case of private hospitals in Nairobi)

Abstract

The Ministry of Health in Kenya introduced a Bill in parliament entitled 'The National Social Health Insurance Fund Bill 2004', which has been under scrutiny by the Parliamentary Committee on Health, Housing and Social welfare. If enacted into law, the Bill will create the legal framework for the introduction of the National Social Health Insurance Fund which will introduce change in the operating environment for hospitals. The fund seeks to enroll the entire population through mandatory contributions which will shift the healthcare system from a predominantly free service to a pre paid insurance based system.

This research was conducted in Nairobi and the target population was 65 private hospitals. Sampling was done using systematic sampling where the researcher selected a sample of 22 private hospitals in Nairobi and its environs to establish the effects of the business environmental factors and the cost implications to the NHSIF Bill 2004 by these hospitals. A questionnaire was circulated to the Chief Executive Officers or Administrators of all selected hospitals, 15 were returned thus a response rate of 68.18% significant enough to provide reliable findings for this study. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, with the help of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and was presented in tables, charts, graphs and cross tabulations.