◆ The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico said July 24 that physician Miguel Rivera-Sanabria has been charged with 18 counts of health care fraud, three counts of aggravated identity theft, three counts of false statements relating to health care matters and eight counts of attempted distribution of controlled substances. From about August 2013 through about August 2017, Rivera-Sanabria allegedly submitted false claims to Medicare Advantage plans for services that weren’t performed, causing Medicare to pay $225,250, the U.S. attorney’s office alleged. The charges for alleged identity theft and false statement relate to three instances where he allegedly billed for services provided to deceased patients. “The indictment alleges that the defendant knowingly transferred, possessed, and used the names, date of birth, and Social Security number, attached to the supplier’s unique Medicare identification number of three patients who in fact were deceased at the time of the alleged psychiatric evaluation claims,” the U.S. attorney’s office says. Visit https://tinyurl.com/yblaapu8.