Department of Health

Oversight of Emergency Medical Services (Follow-Up Review)

Emergency medical services in New York State are provided by local ambulance services and other providers that are overseen by the Department of Health. These providers must be re-certified by the Department every two years and inspected on a periodic basis. However, in our initial audit report 2002-S-5, we found that 228 of the 1,190 (19 percent) emergency medical service providers were not recertified on time, and a number of inspections were not timely or complete. The Department also investigates complaints and other problems relating to emergency medical services. We determined that these investigations were not always performed in the required manner and were not always timely. We recommended that the Department’s oversight of emergency medical services be strengthened in a number of ways, and in our follow-up review, we found that significant progress had been made in implementing our recommendations.

For a complete copy of Report 2004-F-24 click here.
For a copy of the 90-day response click here.