Business as usual

Now that the court has accepted the WakeMed and U.S. Government Medicare settlement, will the WakeMed board of directors take the actions that are appropriate?

The CEO and CFO of WakeMed need to be held accountable for what happened, and the only way to do that short of termination is to hit them in the pocketbook. Will the board require a substantial portion of the $8 million settlement withheld from bonuses and other compensation of these two officers, or will it hide behind the rhetoric that the employment agreements that both parties agreed to prevent them from doing that?

Of course the two officers of the corporation most culpable for this fraudulent activity could step forward and volunteer to forgo bonuses and perhaps even a portion of their lofty compensation to take responsibility for not having fulfilled their defined duties. I won’t hold my breath waiting for this announcement.

Unfortunately, this is likely to be a local example of a national illness where the “old boy’s club” boards, handpicked by the CEO and rubber stamped by indifferent shareholders, continue to conduct business as usual.

George Landberg, Apex