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Which hospitals accept SHA in Kenya? (2026)

How to find out whether a Kenyan hospital is contracted with SHA. Public Level 2 to 6 facilities are contracted by default; private facilities contract individually.

AO
by Reviewed by Michael Mwangi 10 min read Updated 26 August 2026Verified 26 Aug 2026

The only two authoritative sources

The SHA contract network is not a fixed list. Facilities are onboarded, suspended for compliance issues, and occasionally off-boarded. As at April 2025 SHA reported 31 facilities closed for fraud investigation, and further facility churn has continued through 2026. This is why the only sensible way to answer "does this hospital accept SHA?" is to check on the day.

The two authoritative sources maintained by SHA:

  1. The contracted facilities directory at sha.go.ke/contracted-facilities. This is SHA's published list of every currently contracted facility. As of the 26 August 2026 verification the directory renders through a JavaScript-driven interface on the SHA site; if the page appears empty in your browser, allow scripts or try a different browser.
  2. The eligibility portal at eligibility.sha.go.ke. This is the same portal the hospital admissions clerk uses. It confirms your active status and can be cross-checked against the facility's ability to draw down against your cover.

If both are down or you cannot read them, call the SHA toll-free helpline 0800 720 601 and ask the agent to confirm whether the specific facility name and location is contracted, and read back your own active status. See what to do when a hospital refuses SHA.

Public Level 2 to 6 facilities: contracted by default

The default position across the public health system is that all Level 2 (dispensaries), Level 3 (health centres), Level 4 (sub-county and county hospitals), Level 5 (county referral tertiary), and Level 6 (national referral) facilities are contracted. This is because SHA is the government scheme; public facilities are funded through PHF capitation (Levels 2 to 3), SHIF claims (Levels 3 to 6), and ECCIF for emergencies and chronic care.

Practically this means:

  • Your local dispensary or health centre is on the PHF network for outpatient care.
  • Your county referral hospital is on the SHIF network for admission, delivery, surgery, and specialist consult.
  • KNH, MTRH, and other national referral hospitals sit at Level 6 and are contracted for the full SHIF scope plus ECCIF pathways for cancer, dialysis, and critical care.

If a public facility clerk says "SHA is not working here today", that is almost always a system connectivity issue, not a contract issue. The facility remains contracted; verification is just offline. In those cases, request written admission-under-SHA acknowledgement, retain your M-PESA payment records, and follow up via 0800 720 601. Sometimes the workaround is a manual claim submission.

Faith-based facilities

A significant slice of Kenya's hospital capacity is faith-based (mission hospitals, church-run facilities). The largest of these are widely reported to be contracted with SHA and have been for the NHIF era before it, but we will not name individual facilities as accepting SHA on this page. Contract status is a matter of live SHA record and can change. For a specific mission hospital, check sha.go.ke/contracted-facilities or call the facility's admissions desk directly and cross-check with the SHA helpline.

Private hospitals: contract individually, status changes

Private hospitals contract with SHA on an individual basis. Some have been continuously in-network since the NHIF-to-SHA transition on 1 October 2024. Others have entered and exited the network over commercial disputes about the tariff schedule and payment delays. The public record includes multiple episodes of large private hospital groups pausing SHA admissions, then resuming after negotiation.

Two consequences for members:

  • Do not treat any private hospital's SHA status as permanent. Even a hospital that accepted SHA six months ago may not today. Verify on the day.
  • Even where the hospital is contracted, expect a co-pay. Private-hospital retail rates typically exceed SHA benefit tariffs. The difference is your bill. See SHA and private hospitals.

We deliberately do not publish a list of "private hospitals that accept SHA" on this page. Any such list would be outdated within days and would cause harm if a family relied on it and turned up at a hospital that had exited the network.

How to verify a specific hospital, step by step

  1. Open sha.go.ke/contracted-facilities. Search or filter by county and facility name. If the facility is listed, it is currently contracted.
  2. Cross-check on eligibility.sha.go.ke. Log in with your credentials, confirm your active status. This is what the hospital sees.
  3. Call the hospital's admissions desk. Confirm current SHA status for the specific service you need (some hospitals accept SHA for outpatient but not surgical admission, or vice versa, depending on their contract scope).
  4. Call the SHA helpline 0800 720 601 if in doubt. Ask the agent to confirm the facility's current status.
  5. Get admission confirmation in writing. Before treatment, request a written estimate and confirmation that SHA will be billed. This limits surprise bills.

When your sources disagree

Occasionally the SHA directory says a hospital is contracted, the hospital admissions clerk says it is not, and the eligibility portal returns an error. This does happen. The reliable move: prioritise the SHA-side record (directory + eligibility portal), and escalate the discrepancy via 0800 720 601 with the facility name and the specific rejection message. If the mismatch cannot be resolved on the day and care cannot wait, ECCIF emergency provisions still apply for emergency care regardless of contract confusion. See SHA emergency care.

Onboarding facilities

SHA also publishes a separate list at sha.go.ke/onboarding-facilities of facilities in the process of contracting. Onboarding is not the same as contracted. A facility on the onboarding list cannot yet bill SHA. Do not rely on onboarding status for imminent admission.

What if no contracted facility is nearby?

If your nearest contracted facility is far and you need care urgently, ECCIF ambulance evacuation applies for qualifying emergencies. For non-emergency care, the Primary Care Network mapped at your PHF registration is your default. To change your PCN, use afyayangu.go.ke or dial *147# and follow the prompts to update your primary facility. See how to update your SHA details.

Sources

  1. SHA contracted facilities directory: sha.go.ke/contracted-facilities, accessed 26 August 2026. Interface is JavaScript-driven; specific facility contents not independently reproduced on this page.
  2. SHA eligibility check: eligibility.sha.go.ke, accessed 26 August 2026.
  3. SHA onboarding facilities: sha.go.ke/onboarding-facilities, accessed 26 August 2026.
  4. SHA toll-free helpline 0800 720 601.
  5. Reported public record on SHA fraud enforcement: 31 facilities closed October 2024 to April 2025 (attributed to SHA public statements and Ministry of Health reporting).