Sep 4, 2008 8:24 pm US/Eastern
Use Of Medevac Helicopters Reduced
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) ―
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A state audit of the Maryland State Police Medevac helicopters was front and center in Annapolis.
CBS
A senior official says changes have been made to Maryland's Medevac program to cut unnecessary use of state police helicopters.
A state audit of the Maryland State Police Medevac helicopters was front and center in Annapolis.
Mike Schuh reports it comes at a time when legislators are being asked for millions to fund new choppers.
No one is questioning if the Medevac helicopters save lives, but the state audit is raising questions in Annapolis.
For years, lawmakers have been hearing how valuable the helicopters are. Now, an independent audit is giving them numbers.
"The auditor's job is to raise questions about how things are done," said Delegate Sandy Rosenberg.
It talks about staffing turnover, management problems with maintenance records and parts needed to fly so many patients.
The audit comes when the state police are seeking $120 million to replace the aging fleet of 12.
"Clearly through this audit they said that this was an outstanding operation, an outstanding system, that was still and understandably the finest in the world. What they found were some technical issues that we could do better at," said Greg Shipley, spokesperson for Maryland State Police.
At least 46 percent of the patients flown to trauma centers are discharged within 24 hours.
"One thing I have learned from today's hearing, people having such good care, people on the scene are so well trained, that people are coming to the emergency room in much better shape than they had been in the past. The question is how many Medevac helicopters do we need to get that golden hour of care," said Delegate Rosenberg.
"Trying to make a decision about who goes to a trauma center and we have standards, but in essence we will err on the side of the patient," said Dr. Robert Bass.
The issue will be revisited again next Tuesday in Annapolis when another joint legislative session will pull the audit and have tough questions for state police.
The Maryland State Police say they need additional funding to buy computerized record keeping. They have already made changes in response to the audit.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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