New York paid millions for 247,000 Covid medical devices—used 3 of them: comptroller audit

An audit by the New York State Comptroller's Office has revealed that the state spent hundreds of millions of dollars during the COVID-19 pandemic on medical equipment that was largely never used.

According to the audit, New York paid $452.8 million to purchase 247,343 items of durable medical equipment (DME), such as ventilators, CPAP machines, oxygen tanks, and other equipment, and received 51 additional items through donations or federal sources. Only three items from the newly purchased stockpile were distributed while around 324 items from the old stockpile were used.

“During the pandemic, New York state quickly purchased medical equipment to address the public health crisis,” said State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. “Now, hundreds of thousands of unused devices sit idle. I urge the Department of Health to develop and execute a strategic plan for the maintenance and use of these and future medical equipment purchases, so New York is well prepared for the next public health emergency.”

New York GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik reacted to the audit with several siren emojis on X.

The audit found that after the public health emergency ended, a Medical Stockpile Steering Committee was formed to determine which items should be kept. The committee recommended retaining 51,140 DME items and scheduling preventive maintenance for 4,468 of them. However, that left nearly 200,000 items without any clear plan for future use.

Auditors noted that the Department of Health (DOH) could not provide documentation explaining how the committee made its decisions, making it difficult to evaluate the recommendations. DOH conducted surveys of the medical community and found facilities expressing interest in 24,585 DME items, but few items were distributed.

DiNapoli's audit issued several recommendations to the DOH, including the need to maintain internal controls during emergencies, document decision-making processes, establish preventive maintenance plans for medical equipment, and create a statewide strategy for how to utilize surplus DME.