Table 2.

Principles of hospital corporate governance

1. Goals of hospital corporate governance: to increase its performance, to assure its social responsibility namely concerning the search for the common good, and to promote conformance with regards accountability arrangements in a fair and transparent way [9]

2. External controls

(a) Public accountability: Explicit, public detailed procedures for evaluating hospital performance with full public report (use reports, performance reports, compliance reports, consultants), global budgeting, fair grievance procedures (legal, non-legal), and adequate privacy protection (adapted from [7])

(b) Stakeholders accountability: External mechanisms of reporting, public disclosure of the processes and rationale adopted in management, external audit, financial account and annual report (published at internet)

3. Internal controls

(a) Self-regulation: Internal audits, ethical codes and disclosure of directors’ performance and remuneration

(b) Board: Unitary versus dual board, mechanisms of appointment to the board, performance evaluation (adapted from [16])