A nurse practitioner who stole almost $12 million from health insurers and Medicare by asking for money for patient services she never did has been given seven years in prison.
In a statement released Wednesday, the U.S. attorney’s office in Rhode Island said that Alexander Istomin, 57, filed false claims for in-person patient services that he said he had done at offices in Rhode Island, New York, and Florida.
Some of the people Istomin said he met in person were in a different country at the time. Prosecutors say that some visits were made to a “ghost office” in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, that Istomin said was part of his medical practice but was only used to receive mail.
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Prosecutors say he also used the names of patients and other information about them to get prescriptions filled, which he would then keep and give to other people.
Prosecutors say he also waived copayments for some Medicare patients, which is against the law, and in exchange, they didn’t report the fraudulent billing.
Prosecutors said that eight insurers were hurt.
In October, he pleaded guilty to health care fraud, mail fraud, aggravated identity theft, and causing misbranded drugs to be sold across state lines.
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