On January 31, 2020 OCSN was made aware that Lanoka Harbor EMS had been assessed a total of $617,000 in fines following an anonymous tip and investigation by the NJ Department of Health: Office Of Emergency Medical Services.

An audit that started in June 2019 states that Lanoka Harbor EMS (LHEMS) was at that time only licensed to operate 2x BLS Vehicles (#268, #269), while in fact over a timespan of 76 days they operated an additional 4x Unlicensed BLS vehicles (#260, #265, #266 and #267) resulting in $76,000 in fines for operating unlicensed BLS vehicles and using them to respond to patient calls.

Further investigation found that there in s one year period, (June 1st, 2018 – June 1st, 2019) there were 541 incidents where LHEMS responded without proper personnel, and in fact there were more than 200 instances where LHEMS responded to incidents with no certified personnel on-board. These incidents resulted in an additional $541,000 in fines.

The document from the New Jersey Department of Health Office of Emergency Medical Services states that LHEMS has 30 days to request a hearing from the Office of Administrative Law and that if they fail to do so, the notice shall be rendered final 30 days after it was sent and that the entire $617,000.00 shall be rendered due immediately.