Podcast Summary: Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
Episode Title: Holly Lee, Vice President and Chief Audit Executive at Parkview Health
Date: January 14, 2026
Host: Laura Deardo
Guest: Holly Lee
Episode Overview
In this episode, Laura Deardo speaks with Holly Lee, the Vice President and Chief Audit Executive at Parkview Health, about the evolving landscape of risk management and internal audit in healthcare for 2026. The conversation dives into Parkview's shift to integrated assurance, priorities for the coming year, leadership challenges, and the foundational elements needed for organizational growth in an era of continued change.
Key Discussion Points and Insights
1. Introduction to Holly Lee and Parkview Health
- Holly’s Role: Leads the internal audit function, focusing on providing assurance and insight that help Parkview fulfill its mission responsibly and effectively.
- About Parkview Health: Not-for-profit system serving Northeast Indiana and Northwest Ohio. Mission centers on improving health and inspiring well-being.
Memorable Quote:
"Our mission is pretty simple, but it's also pretty powerful. We're focused on improving health and inspiring wellbeing."
— Holly Lee [01:18]
2. Major Initiative: Foundations of Integrated Assurance
- Transition to Integrated Assurance: Since joining in 2023, Holly’s main initiative was to align enterprise risk management within internal audit, moving beyond traditional siloed approaches.
- The Core Concept: A “connected approach to risk oversight” that offers leadership a single, clear view rather than fragmented reports.
- Analogy: Holly compares this integration to coordinated healthcare—ensuring specialists share information to yield better outcomes and reduced risks.
Memorable Quote:
"Think of it like coordinating care for a patient with multiple specialists... When we share information and follow a care plan, outcomes generally improve and risk go down."
— Holly Lee [03:08]
Key Results:
- Enhanced visibility into emerging risks
- Resource leverage reducing duplicative work
- Increased confidence in strategic decision-making
Important Segment: [02:16–04:20]
3. 2026 Priorities: Agility, Data, and Resilience
- Data Agility: Advancing analytic capabilities in audit to offer real-time financial, operational, and compliance risk insights.
- Flexible Audit Planning: Developing dynamic plans capable of pivoting in response to emerging risks.
- Resilience:
- Strengthening cybersecurity
- Planning for workforce shortages
- Embedding risk management into strategic decisions
- Addressing economic pressures, rising costs, workforce burnout, regulatory changes
Memorable Quote:
"Internal audit's role is to turn that uncertainty into actionable insight so Parkview can stay resilient, compliant and focused really on our mission of delivering exceptional care."
— Holly Lee [05:53]
Important Segment: [04:51–06:16]
4. The Greatest Challenge for 2026: Balancing Innovation and Resource Constraints
- Pressure Points: Delivering greater access and higher-quality care with less cost.
- Making Tough Choices: Necessity to prioritize initiatives that have the most significant impact on patient outcomes, compliance, and efficient risk management.
- Internal Audit’s Contribution: Ensuring major projects—think ERP modernizations, AI adoption—are well-governed, compliant, and strategically aligned.
Memorable Quote:
“The hardest challenge... will continue to be balancing growth in innovation with limited resources... There’s a constant real pressure to deliver more, better access, better care, but also that pressure to do that while reducing costs.”
— Holly Lee [06:59]
Important Segment: [06:59–08:40]
5. Navigating Competing Priorities
- Staying Grounded: The importance of aligning audit activities to the organization's strategic goals to navigate competing priorities and limited resources.
Notable Insight:
“When those challenges come along, that’s what really keeps us grounded—making sure we’re aligning back to those strategic priorities for the organization.”
— Holly Lee [09:24]
Important Segment: [09:01–09:43]
6. Best Opportunities for Growth in Healthcare
- Holly’s Unique Perspective: Growth should begin with organizational readiness rather than simply expanding technology or network reach.
- Three Key Foundations:
- Investing in people (fosters resilience and adaptability)
- Building a culture of accountability (drives performance and innovation)
- Turning data into actionable insights (enables faster, smarter decisions)
Memorable Quote:
“The best opportunities for growth in healthcare... I really start with readiness. Growth isn't necessarily about just scaling up, but it's really strengthening the fundamentals. And to me, when you do that well, you're not just prepared for those growth opportunities, but you can really be positioned to lead those growth opportunities.”
— Holly Lee [10:07, 11:30]
Important Segment: [09:51–11:43]
Notable Quotes
-
On Integrated Assurance:
“It's to really treat the system as a whole and not just the individual risk symptoms in siloed functions.”
— Holly Lee [03:43] -
On Internal Audit’s Strategic Role:
“Our work helps leadership clearly see both risk and opportunities so decisions are informed and progress supports quality, compliance and trust, even in an environment where efficiency is essential.”
— Holly Lee [08:19]
Final Thoughts
Holly Lee emphasizes the importance of integration, agility, resilience, and a foundational focus on people and accountability. Her approach at Parkview Health showcases how internal audit pivots from a traditional oversight function to a strategic partner navigating healthcare’s ongoing transformation. Organizations poised for success, Lee asserts, are those that build strong foundations and readiness—empowering them not just to grow, but to confidently lead through change.
Relevant Timestamps
- [01:12] — Holly introduces herself and Parkview Health
- [02:16] — Integrated assurance initiative explanation
- [04:51] — 2026 priorities and headwinds
- [06:59] — Balancing innovation and resource constraints
- [09:51] — Opportunities for organizational growth