Ahmad vacated the seat in favour of NA-55 Rawalpindi-VI, another seat he won, and Kiani ran as an independent candidate for the subsequent by-election in NA-56 Rawalpindi-VII, but was again unsuccessful. He received 139 votes and was defeated by Hanif Abbasi, a candidate of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA).
On 18 August, Imran Khan formally announced his federal cabinet structure and Kiani was named as Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination.[4] On 20 August 2018, he was sworn in as Federal Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination in the federal cabinet of Prime Minister Imran Khan.[5] On 18 April 2019, in a mega reshuffle, Prime Minister Imran Khan took his post down due to public pressure of medicine price increase.
On 17 May 2023, Kiani announced that he had left the PTI and politics, as he belonged to a military family and couldn't stand Imran Khan's perceived anti-army stance.[6] This came after days of violent crackdown on protesters supporting PTI. Many office-holders of PTI were arrested in violation of court orders. An estimated 50 people had been shot by police and paramilitary forces and thousands had been arrested and detained without charge, including women and children.