Quality and control in the healthcare: a win-win mix?

The aim of this paper is to define a theoretical framework for the healthcare quality improvement. Starting from the internal and external auditing systems, their effectiveness and cooperation our paper will analyze the theoretical properties and the issues concerning the quality improvement related to the auditing policies and practices. The research was conducted reviewing thoroughly the existing literature and conducting surveys and interviews in order to isolate the common properties of the auditing systems that generate an improvement in service quality. This contribution aims to outline the theoretical background for the best practices in the internal, external and collaborative auditing in the healthcare and related institutions and actors. This contribution is a first, exploratory step of analisys of the issues of public sector and healthcare sector auditing, both from an internal and external perspective. The theoretical framework will allow the development of further research, also with the use of quantitative models and data. It could as well outline the main properties of a useful auditing system and a proper management of the healthcare for the stakeholder-driven quality.