SHA's digital deadline and the clinic that explains itself

Kenya's Social Health Authority is moving healthcare providers off its old provider portal and onto a new Health Management Information System (HMIS). The Ministry of Health says the system is meant to connect care and financing on one digital platform. The deadline has moved more than once: an SHA notice dated 1 September extended compliance to 30 September 2026, as reported by allAfrica, while People Daily reported a 30 October date for some categories of facility. The SHA has said facilities that do not comply could lose their contracts.

Coverage also notes changes patients will feel directly: primary care payments based on verified patient visits, and claims timelines shortened from 90 to 30 days.

For hospital administrators, this is an IT project. For patients, it is a set of questions that land at the reception desk.

The questions patients will ask

When systems change, patients notice the symptoms: a new step at registration, a request to verify identity, a delay while a record is checked, a service that was covered last month and now needs approval. They ask:

• Why are you asking for this now?
• Is my cover still valid here?
• What do I need to bring next time?
• How long will this take?

A receptionist answering the same question two hundred times a day is the most expensive way to communicate.

A short explainer does that job better

A one-minute video, played on the waiting-room screen and shared on the clinic's WhatsApp and Facebook, can answer the common questions before patients reach the desk. It also shows that the clinic is organised and honest about the change, which matters in a sector where trust has been shaken by reports of fraud in the health financing system.

With Tari Studio, a clinic's administrator can type /script with the length and the topic, for example "60 seconds: what changes at registration under SHA's new system, and what patients should bring". The AI director writes timed scenes with spoken lines and on-screen words. Check every fact against the official SHA guidance before making the video; the script is a draft, not an authority. Scripts are free. Scripts with /script.

Speak the patient's language

Set the voice, dialogue and on-screen text to Kiswahili, Kenyan English or the Kiswahili-English mix. A registration change explained in clear Kiswahili will reach far more patients at a county facility than a notice written in formal English.

Keep it accurate and up to date

Health information has to be right. A few rules:

• Quote dates and requirements only from official SHA notices, and update the video when they change.
• Do not make promises about cover or payments that the SHA has not made.
• Never show real patients without written consent. Use generated people, and never imitate a real person. Privacy and pictures of people.

Beyond the deadline

The same habit, explaining change before it causes frustration, works for every clinic: new opening hours, a new specialist, a vaccination drive, a price change. Patients forgive inconvenience much more easily than surprise.

Write your clinic's explainer.