From Compliance to Value: Reframing Internal Audit in Value-Based Health Care

This project explores whether and how the internal audit function creates value in health care organizations operating within the value-based health care (VBHC) paradigm. While VBHC emphasizes patient-centered outcomes, efficiency, transparency, and equity, the contribution of internal audit to value creation in this context remains insufficiently conceptualized and empirically examined. The study is grounded in the Global Internal Audit Standards and adopts a systems-oriented perspective, integrating organizational governance, regulatory frameworks, and international best practices in health care management. The central research question guiding this project is whether the application of Global Internal Audit Standards contributes to value creation in value-based health care organizations. The research is designed as an open-ended mixed-methods study. At the current stage, it focuses on conceptual, regulatory, and comparative analysis of legal frameworks, international standards, and global practices relevant to internal audit and health care governance. Decisions regarding empirical sampling, data sources, and specific analytical techniques will be determined in later phases of the project, in alignment with methodological rigor and emerging findings. Ethical considerations are integral to the study design, with particular attention to transparency, openness, collaborative knowledge production, and the potential contribution of internal audit to patient benefit, especially for vulnerable populations. The project is committed to the principles of open science and responsible research conduct.