A Lafayette rehabilitation facility, its parent company and a Lafayette doctor have agreed to pay a $1.7 million settlement to resolve claims they made false Medicare claims for patients that did not qualify for and did not require inpatient rehabilitation.

Lafayette Physical Rehabilitation Hospital and its management company, Acadiana Management Group LLC, have agreed to pay $1.2 million and Dr. Carolyn Smith has agreed to pay $575,000 to settle the claims, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana Brandon Brown said in a statement.

Investigators and federal litigators found that from Jan. 1, 2010 through Dec. 31, 2016, Smith admitted patients to Lafayette Physical Rehabilitation Hospital who didn’t medically require inpatient care. She often put “improper pressure on patients” and “falsely certified that the patients met the applicable criteria for inpatient admission,” Brown’s statement said.

The false claims were brought to the federal government’s attention by two whistleblowers, Tamara Boyd and Nancy Morrill, who were former employees at the hospital. Boyd and Morrill will receive over 20% of the settlement amount, Brown said.

In connection with the settlement, Smith agreed to be excluded from participation in federal health care programs for 10 years, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Office of the Inspector General.

Smith’s medical license was suspended in November 2016, per the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners.

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