Role of information system auditors in healthcare practices implementing telemedicine services / Siti Nuraishah Salleh

Information System (IS) plays a lot of important roles in today's life. It
helps many organizations in performing their business operations. The
implementation of IS in healthcare industry has evolved rapidly compared to
a decade ago. The use of healthcare information system has increased the
need of IS audit practices in the healthcare industry in order to provide
patients with better, effective and efficient services. However, the role of IS
auditor in such a critical industry needs to be clearly defined. With the
demand of IT usage in this industry, the telemedicine facility was introduced
in Malaysia a few years back and a Telemedicine Act was introduced in
1997. This research seeks to determine the role played by IS auditors in
healthcare industry and to determine the state of telemedicine practice in the
healthcare industry in Klang Valley and Federal Territory (Kuala Lumpur and
Putrajaya) regions. The primary data were collected via interviews and
questionnaire survey. 30 hospitals within the survey regions were identified.
However, only 12 hospitals answered the questionnaire while another 4
hospitals agreed to be interviewed. The remaining 14 did not respond to the
research project for various reasons. Analysis carried out and the findings
indicated that the main roles IS auditors play in healthcare industry are
generally advisory and consultancy roles. Another significant contribution
from IS auditor was seen to be that of providing security diagnostics. Other
than that, based on the 16 respondents, the research indicated that the
current state of telemedicine practices in Klang Valley and Federal Territory
regions is extremely low. Reasons are such as small company, no
requirement for it, or waiting for the success of government projects.