A nurse practitioner in Florida will face healthcare fraud, mail fraud and money laundering charges for his alleged role in a $2.3 million dollar improper billing scheme, the Department of Justice said Aug. 16.
Since 2014, Alexander Istomin, allegedly billed and received more than $2.3 million dollars from commercial health insurers and Medicaid for services he did not perform on patients in Rhode Island, New York, and Florida.
An Aug. 6 indictment returned by a grand jury in Rhode Island alleges Mr. Istomin billed insurance companies and Medicare for services he claimed to have provided when either he himself was out of the state or country, or to patients who were out of town at the time.
To keep patients from reporting fraudulent billing to Medicare, he allegedly waived copayments for some patients despite such waivers being prohibited.
Mr. Istomin is accused of having two offices — one in Rhode Island and one in New York — where no patient services were provided. The offices were allegedly used for billing services only.
He was arrested Aug. 11 in Florida.