RESEARCH ARTICLE Do corporate governance mechanisms and internal control systems matter in reducing mortality rates? Stephen Owusu Afriyie 1 | Yusheng Kong 1 | Patrick Obeng Danso 1 | Abdul‐Aziz Ibn Musah 2 | Michael Owusu Akomeah 1 1 School of Finance and Economics, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China 2 Statistics Department, Tamale Technical University, Tamale, Ghana Correspondence Y. Kong, School of Finance and Economics, Jiangsu University, 301 Xuefu Road, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China. Email: yshkong2@yahoo.com Funding information National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant/Award Number: 71371087 Summary Internal controls are critical to guarding an institution against fraud, error, and devastation. They are effective tools for preventing losses and achieving organizational goals. However, internal control mechanisms need to be rel- evant, because the organization cannot comprehend the effectiveness of the system if they are out‐of‐touch with the operation. Health care control practices are not excep- tionally different from what pertains in other industries. The health care organizations require effective corporate governance mechanisms to uphold their operations and per- formances. These practices assist health care organizations to exhume cynical practices that generate unproductive results and also factors militating against the hospital's goals or objectives. This study revealed that practices such as enhanced Board diligence, Health Professionals on board, financial prudence, and effective communication have the tendency of reducing mortality, if well executed. KEYWORDS board, corporate governance, hospitals, internal control, mortality reduction 1 | INTRODUCTION Every firm requires a level of governance system to achieve its organizational goals. Corporate governance should provide realistic assurance regarding the achievement of objectives related to operations, reporting, and compliance of the organization. 1 By these, administrative structures of an organization seek to offer assurance that the firm operates effectively and efficiently, has a dependable financial reporting system and conforms to applicable systems, laws, and regulations. The controlling process measures and directs the actual performance of the organization as Received: 9 October 2018 Revised: 17 December 2018 Accepted: 18 December 2018 DOI: 10.1002/hpm.2732 Int J Health Plann Mgmt. 2019;1–17. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/hpm 1