Doctor gets prison time in kickback case

FAYETTEVILLE — A Louisiana doctor was sentenced this week to four years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, after pleading guilty in federal court to taking kickbacks from a Rogers company as part of worker’s compensation fraud, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Robert Clay Smith, 61, of Alexandria, La., also was ordered to repay $ 827,083 to workers’ compensation insurers for his role in a conspiracy to commit wire fraud and health care fraud and in violations of federal anti-kickback laws.

Smith pleaded guilty in the case March 29. U. S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks presided over Wednesday’s sentencing hearing.

Smith conspired with a Rogers company from 2013 to 2017 to dispense pain creams and patches to his workers’ compensation patients, for which he received a split of the profits, according to the release.

The Rogers company acted as the billing agent for Smith, handling all paperwork and submitting the claims to both the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, which covers all federal employees, and to private insurers. In exchange, Smith admitted, the company paid him 50% to 55% of the profits collected from successfully billing insurers, at markups of 15 to 20 times what the medications cost, the release states.

In addition to receiving illegal kickbacks, Smith dispensed medications to his workers’ compensation patients from his clinic despite not having a license to do so, as required under Louisiana law, according to the release.