New York brought in hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of medical equipment during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic that went unused and is now sitting in storage facilities without getting recommended maintenance while costing taxpayers storage expenses, according to a report released Friday by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s office.

Auditors discovered the state paid $453 million to purchase nearly 250,000 items of durable medical equipment in 2020, including ventilators, X-ray machines, CPAP/BiPAP machines, oxygen tanks, pulse oximeters, oxygen concentrators and infusion pumps. Of the state’s total inventory, including equipment that was available pre-pandemic, only 324 items were distributed during the public health emergency, and only three items from the nearly 250,000 items purchased during COVID-19 were used.

A committee was created to make recommendations when the pandemic ended on what equipment should be retained in an emergency stockpile. It recommended the state Department of Health keep 51,140 items, and that 4,468 items should receive scheduled preventive maintenance, leaving almost 200,000 items without a plan for use.

According to the comptroller’s report, limited action was taken by the DOH to reduce the stockpile.

Auditors found that DOH began to identify ways to reduce its inventory as COVID cases decreased, but did not finalize a process or create written procedures. Auditors determined limited action was taken to reduce the stockpile. DOH conducted some surveys of the medical community, with facilities expressing interest in tens of thousands of pieces of equipment, but very few items were sent.

Auditors also found a lack of controls during the pandemic contributed to the DOH being unable to account for all the items purchased, with credit card transactions an issue, the report said.

“During the pandemic, New York state quickly purchased medical equipment to address the public health crisis,” DiNapoli said in a statement. “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.”

As a result of the audit, DiNapoli recommended the DOH maintain basic internal controls during emergency scenarios to ensure stewardship over state assets, document and preserve the process and key factors used when making significant decisions, develop and implement a strategic plan for preventive maintenance so it is ready to use during public health emergencies and develop and implement a statewide public health strategic plan to use items in surplus.