Attorney General William Tong announced a $455,598.31 settlement with Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Dayna L. Giordano and her medical office resolving allegations that Giordano violated the Connecticut False Claims Act by causing pharmacies to bill the Connecticut Medical Assistance Program for injectable specialty drugs that Giordano failed to administer to patients. An investigation found that from June 1, 2019, through August 31, 2023, Giordano was a licensed Advanced Practice Registered Nurse enrolled in the Connecticut Medical Assistance Program (CMAP), which includes the Connecticut Medicaid program. Giordano treated patients at her own medical office in Branford, Connecticut. As part of her Medication Assisted Treatment for patients with opioid or alcohol use disorders, Giordano prescribed and administered monthly injections of the long-acting, extended-release drugs Sublocade, Vivitrol, and Abilify Maintena. Giordano caused several specialty drug pharmacies to submit claims to the Connecticut Medicaid Program for the injectable drugs. The specialty pharmacies delivered the drugs directly to Giordano’s Branford office for patient administration.
However, Giordano never administered numerous doses to the patients for whom they were ordered, resulting in losses to the Connecticut Medicaid Program, which reimbursed the specialty pharmacies for the dispensed drugs. Although Giordano did not seek or receive payment for these drugs, she knowingly failed to administer the drug injections due to improper medication inventory tracking and substandard record-keeping causing the specialty pharmacies to bill DSS for drugs that were never administered to the intended patients. To resolve their liability under the Connecticut False Claims Act, Giordano and her medical office agreed to pay $455,598.31.