The Department is very experienced with the management of EMS inventory. For over a hundred and twenty five years the Department has been responding to calls for service in our community and has had to equip itself to provide the services requested. The EMS merger has in fact posed serious and consistent challenges for Department staff. The dynamic nature of the merger, its periodic evolutions and changing deployment strategies have made its support a labor intensive project. The Department is asked to manage a budget for medical supplies that has grown from a pre-merger $125,000 to $1.4 million. The Division has been required to provide support for purchase and distribution of 84 ALS supply lockers and 419 items from a pre-merger level of 7 supply lockers and 90 items, with out a proportionate increase in staff.

The Department anticipates that the next few years will be equally challenging as the Bureau of Equipment / EMS inventory management team will be required to expand its role to support Special Operations, ALS Engine and ALS Truck Companies. The Department must also acknowledge current political realties that require these team members to evaluate and recommend for purchase items for use in the event of an escalation in terrorist activities, the use of weapons of mass destruction, and the now more broadly defined disaster preparedness.

The Department extends thanks to the auditor for acknowledging the enormous strides in the areas of inventory control and accountability. The Department has realized great benefits and commensurate savings.

A list of recent accomplishments includes:

1. Implantation and successful Department-wide use of a computerized inventory management system (BICS)

2. Reconfiguring the mechanisms for distribution / recovery of medical supplies

3. Efficient and economic disposal of Bio Hazard waste

4. Improved operational readiness thorough the use of electronic ordering systems

· Recommendation of Auditor"s report

4.6.1 Lock supply lockers that contain medical supplies and pharmaceuticals. Keys should always be available in case supplies are needed. However, they should be accessible only through fire stations management or a representative designated by management.

· Assessment of Department

The Department concurs with the recommendation of the audit.

The addition of locks and signature sign out sheets may provide a simple and low cost enhancement to inventory control. While the Department appreciates the intention to allow access to these lockers only through "fire station management, or a representative designated by management," medic units require stocking on a continuous basis. Supply lockers are located in stations that may be unoccupied when units are responding to incidents, participating in drills, or providing fire inspection service in their district. It is impractical to require medic units to wait for station officers to return to their quarters before restocking equipment without which they cannot respond to emergency incidents.

·Department Action plan and timeline

The Department will begin a pilot program in March of 2002. With data from the pilot program we can evaluate the effectiveness of the program and develop Department-wide policies and procedure.

· Recommendation of Auditor"s report

4.6.2 Implement sign-out sheets similar to those used by the Department for controlled substances, for the removal of medical supplies and pharmaceuticals from the fire station supply lockers. Such sign out sheets should require two signatures for the removal of supplies and should provide sufficient detail with regard to the unit and crew removing the inventory.

· Assessment of Department

The Department concurs with the recommendation of the audit.

The addition of locks and signature sign out sheets may provide a simple and low cost enhancement to inventory control. While the sheer volume of supplies and number of sign out sheets may be difficult to reconcile to actual usage, we believe the presence of the locks and sign out sheets may themselves provide a psychological barrier to casual supply use and inventory loss.

·Department Action plan and timeline

The Department will begin a pilot program in March of 2002. With data from the pilot program we can evaluate the effectiveness of the program and develop Department-wide policies and procedure.

· Recommendation of Auditor"s report

4.6.3 Begin monitoring the usage of medical supplies and pharmaceuticals through the recommended sign-out sheets and through the pending computerized inventory management system. Irregularities should be reported to management and appropriately researched and addressed.

· Assessment of Department

The Department concurs with the recommendation of the audit.

· Department Action plan and timeline

Complete.

The Department has already begun use of the computerized inventory management system.

The computerized inventory management system (BICS) was deployed between the time of the Auditor"s research and the publishing of the Auditor"s report. The BICS has been fully functioning for over six weeks with no complications to date. Data captured from the BICS will allow for cross-referencing against medical run volume based on geographic subsets. This will allow us to compare, on a station by station basis, usage of medical supplies with run volume and determine whether supply use is proportionally consistent.

If necessary, we can then develop Policies and procedures for Department -wide inventory controls.