Determinants of Performance of National Hospital Insurance Fund’s Designated Health Care Service Providers in Kenya

Abstract

An act of parliament Cap 255, LOK, established the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) on 12th July 1966, replacing the then European, Asian and Arabs‟ Hospital Fund which catered for the three communities only. The problem, which forms the basis of the study, is that there have been no studies directly focusing on the determinants of service performance by the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) designated health care service providers in Kenya, since the inception of NHIF in 1966. The main objective of the study was to investigate the determinants of service performance of the designated health care service providers in Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were: to determine if market research influenced service performance, to assess whether working relations had an impact on service performance, to establish if communication had an influence on service performance and to find out whether harmonization had a role to play on service performance of the NHIF designated health care service providers in Kenya. The five hospitals selected for the study were: Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi Hospital, Aga Khan, MP Shah, and Mbagathi hospitals. The population for the study consisted of members of staff of the five hospitals in management, administration and wards. The target population for each hospital was 75 members of staff, comprising of 20 managers, 25 administration members and 30 ward workers. The study used stratified random sampling where the population was divided into mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive categories and were issued with questionnaires. Questionnaires with both close ended and open ended questions were the data collection instrument used in the study. Data analysis was done using descriptive and inferential statistical tools. Data was then processed using Statistical Package for Social Scientists (S.P.S.S.). The resultant information was presented by tables and charts. From the study, it is evident enough that the better the knowledge that the employees have concerning a particular health care service provided by NHIF‟s health care service provider, the more it is practiced. On the basis of Market Research and Service Performance and from the findings, there was a significant relationship between the two variables. The researcher recommends that the employees should be educated on market research putting more emphasis on its meaning, how it works and how it can benefit the organization. It could be seen that however less knowledge about this variable the employees of the NHIF designated health care service provider had, the variable could still have a positive impact on the performance, so a little emphasis on it would be favorable to the organization as far as its returns are concerned. In regard to Working relations and service Performance there was a significant relationship between the two and it seems that the organization understands the meaning of the working relationship and even how it works and the relationship with performance is also positive. The extent of its positivity towards performance cannot go without say. The study hence recommends that the market research should be enhanced wherever necessary and as much as possible for the benefit of the public. There was a significant relationship between Communication and Service Performance. Due to the positive correlation with the performance, and as such the researcher recommends that NHIF, through its

designated health care service providers, should embrace communication to improve on the performance. The researcher also recommends that the employees should be trained further on the variable to enhance bidirectional optimization, management of productive capacity and management of perishability for better service performance in the organization.