Federal Court Approves Deferred Prosecution Of Hospital Subject to Criminal Investigation

A deferred prosecution agreement accepted by a federal court Feb. 8 requires a nonprofit North Carolina health system to pay $8 million and comply with the terms of a five-year corporate integrity agreement (CIA) to avoid additional sanctions (United States v. WakeMed, E.D.N.C., 5:12-CR-398-BO, 2/8/13).

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, citing the need to balance the “seriousness of defendant’s offense against the potential harm to innocent parties that could result should this prosecution go forward,” concluded that granting the government’s request to defer prosecution of WakeMed, d/b/a WakeMed Health and Hospitals, was ...