BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana has agreed to move people with serious mental illnesses out of state nursing homes and into community-based settings following an investigation by the federal government.

The Louisiana Department of Health on Thursday announced the agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice.

In a lawsuit , federal officials had alleged that the state is violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by segregating the seriously mentally ill in nursing homes instead of placing them in more community-based settings. The suit has since been dismissed.

State officials say they will perform health screenings of mentally ill people in nursing homes and added they’ve already moved more than 2,500 people from the facilities to community settings.

Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore of the federal Civil Rights Division praised Louisiana for addressing the issue.