Third parties and Social Health Authority (SHA)-accredited facilities will now have access, for a fee, to health data collected under the Social Health Insurance Fund, following the government’s new scheme to monetize critical patient data.

According to the proposed Digital Health Information Management Regulations, all health facilities accredited by SHA will be required to store all patient data collected in the course of diagnosis and any other details emanating from follow-up checks in a National Health Data Bank, a database that will be exclusively managed by government authorities. 

For the government to raise revenue, entities seeking data—on the health conditions of millions of Kenyans—will be required to pay as much as KES30,000 to access it.

Both individuals and or entities seeking patient data will have to be considered and approved by the Digital Health Agency, the unit that will be the custodian of patient data nationally.

“A health data controller or a third party shall access health data in the system for public health purposes by requesting in writing to the agency and paying the applicable fees,” reads part of the regulations shared by Dr. Deborah Barasa, the Health Cabinet Secretary.

In the proposals from the Ministry of Health, independent medical researchers will be required to pay KES30,000. Meanwhile, research institutions will face an even higher charge, with the regulations setting their access fee at one percent of the seeking institution’s annual research budget.

Students in the medical field pursuing a doctorate or a master’s degree will pay KES20,000 and KES5,000 respectively while undergraduate scholars will be expected to part with KES500 to access this data.

However, the extensive data collection and sharing mandated by these regulations raise concerns about patient privacy. To monitor and control access, however, the regulations establish mechanisms for suspending health data controllers from the system in the event of data breaches, misuse of access rights, or failure to comply with regulations.

This provision is tailored to deter negligence and ensure that data access is granted only to responsible and compliant entities. 

The penalties for unauthorized access or misuse are steep, with offenses attracting penalties under the Digital Health Act of 2023.

To further control access, the national health data bank has been modeled as an integrated digital health information system that will provide safe storage and facilitate secure sharing of health data and medical records between the bank and health facilities within and outside the country. 

According to the proposed Bill, onboarding fees for entities will range from KES2,000 to KES100,000, depending on the level of service, with annual licenses charged separately. 

For example, Level 6 facilities such as Kenyatta National Hospital, Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral, and Research Hospital will pay up to KES25,000 annually. 

 

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