Nurse gets 7 years for health care fraud scheme

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — A nurse practitioner was sentenced to serve seven years in prison for collecting nearly $12 million for hundreds of services he never performed, according to U.S. Attorney Zachary Cunha. Alexander Istomin, 56, pleaded guilty in October to health care fraud, mail fraud, aggravated identity theft and causing the introduction of misbranded drugs into interstate commerce. Cunha said Istomin routinely submitted fake claims for in-person services he supposedly performed at a fake office in East Greenwich. He used this “ghost office” to receive the insurance payments he illegally applied for. Investigators later found that patients Istomin claimed…