Audit finds Pennsylvania DOH didn't disperse EMS funds properly

by: Jared Weaver

Posted: May 3, 2023 / 06:09 PM EDT

Updated: May 3, 2023 / 06:09 PM EDT

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WTAJ)– An audit discovered that the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) was not dispersing funding to EMS departments properly for years.

Money from the Emergency Medical Services Operating Fund (EMSOF) did not get dispersed to the State EMS Advisory Board or regional councils from July 2017 to June 2022, according to a news release.

The audit was the fourth one done on the state's DOH and each time it was done officials found a lack of internal controls for dispersing funds, Auditor General Tim DeFoor said in a statement Wednesday.

"Our performance audit had one objective: ensure the Department of Health properly accounted for the EMSOF," DeFoor said. "This is the fourth performance audit of DOH's administration of EMSOF since 2010 and the fourth time we found significant internal control issues that remain uncorrected. The good news is that DOH agrees with our findings and is using our audit as a roadmap to improve its infrastructure and oversight."

The EMSOF gets its money from moving traffic violations and the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program. Funding goes towards training and certification of personnel, patient quality assurance, data collection and documentation and licensing of all ambulances and medical response services.

Other findings from the audit were that the DOH did not monitor the use of EMS funding and that they also did not review annual reports.

Auditors gave multiple recommendations for the DOH such as developing new policies for reviewing reports and training regional EMS councils on how to use EMSOF funds.