Internal Audit Benchmarks in Healthcare Organizations

By Mike Michalowicz, CIA^®, CCSA, CRMA, Bryon Neaman, CHIAP^®, CIA^®, CPA, and Rebecca Nilson, CIA^®, CPA, CRMA

Internal audit (IA) functions in organisations worldwide and throughout most industries are undergoing significant change. Changes range from embracing the use of new methodologies and technologies to reframing how their people perform day-to-day operations as the future of work and performance expectations continue to unfold. IA functions within healthcare organisations are no exception.

The Association of Healthcare Internal Auditors (AHIA) and Protiviti conducted a survey in 2022 about internal functions and their organisational demographics for healthcare providers, payers and integrated delivery systems. The study captured detailed benchmarks around many aspects of an internal audit function including size, budgets, salaries and more.

Protiviti published the results of the survey in a comprehensive report, Tackling Traditional Audit Plan Concerns and Expanding Focus on Fraud, Third Parties and Data. The publication also provides commentary on good practices to audit top 10 identified priorities, many of the changes underway within the industry, and how the changes are affecting internal audit functions.

To complement the results and commentary provided in that paper, this article presents further insights and analysis on some of the more notable findings. The focus is on provider organisations’ responses and what they reveal about internal auditing within the healthcare industry.

Read the full article here.

Reprinted with permission from New Perspectives, Journal of the Association of Healthcare Internal Auditors, Inc. Volume 41/ Number 6.

Topics

Internal Audit and Corporate Governance