WakeMed clarifies statements on Medicare fraud settlement

Days before WakeMed goes before a federal judge for approval of an $8 million settlement of a Medicare fraud investigation, hospital officials attempted to clarify statements that might not jibe with the proposed agreement with prosecutors. In late December, federal prosecutors announced that WakeMed faced criminal charges in relation to its practice of billing Medicare for expensive overnight care at the private, not-for-profit's Heart Center Observation Area when the patients had been treated and released the same day.