Springfield slated to lose ambulance provider

LifeStar Ambulance Service Inc., one of three ambulance providers responding to 911 calls in Springfield and transporting patients to local hospitals, is slated to be barred from operating in Sangamon County after May 25 because of health care deficiencies cited by Springfield Memorial Hospital.

“We’re working with our attorneys to try and come up with a solution where we can continue to stay with Springfield,” John Wright, chief executive officer of Centralia-based LifeStar, told Illinois Times on April 14.

Springfield has been served by three privately operated ambulance services for at least 30 years. It’s unclear whether a reduction to two ambulance services would result in slower ambulance response times in emergencies.

Springfield Fire Department Chief Nicholas Zummo said he was verbally informed by LifeStar about the company’s situation. But he said he hasn’t received any formal notice that Springfield Memorial Hospital plans to remove LifeStar from its emergency medical services (EMS) network, and so he declined further comment.

Wright said LifeStar responded to 859 emergency calls in the Springfield area in March and transported 696 patients to the hospital. Removing LifeStar from service in Springfield and Sangamon County “would definitely create a backlog for the city” and potentially increase wait times for ambulances, he said.

“You may have a chest pain that may sit for 20-30 minutes while you wait for an ambulance,” Wright said.

However, Greg Chance, regional chief executive officer of Medics First, one of the two other ambulance services, said that if LifeStar ambulances were removed from Memorial’s EMS system, he is confident Medics First and America Ambulance, the third provider, would be able to supply enough fully staffed ambulances to comply with the city ordinance and avoid any increases in wait times or lapses in service.

America Ambulance officials didn’t respond to a request for comment.

LifeStar’s reputation took a hit in the wake of the December 2022 death of Springfield resident Earl Moore Jr., but Wright said Springfield Memorial officials didn’t mention the Moore case in its critique of LifeStar.

Sangamon County Coroner Jim Allmon ruled Moore’s death a homicide from “compressional and positional asphyxia” when he was placed on his stomach, rather than on his back, on an ambulance stretcher and then strapped in.

The death of Moore, 35, a McDonald’s shift supervisor, allegedly at the hands of two white EMS workers, put a nationwide spotlight on Springfield in terms of racial disparities and EMS care.

The tragedy resulted in first-degree murder charges against LifeStar paramedic Peggy Finley, 47, and emergency medical technician Peter Cadigan, 53, and made police-worn camera videos of the incident go viral.

Finley and Cadigan pleaded not guilty and were released from custody while they await trial. They were suspended from their EMS jobs by Springfield Memorial.

Cadigan is expected to go on trial first. The next hearing in Sangamon County Circuit Court in his case is scheduled April 24.

Moore’s family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against LifeStar. The case was settled out of court, and details of the settlement haven’t been made public.

A Springfield city ordinance requires each of the three current providers – for-profit LifeStar, for-profit America Ambulance and nonprofit Medics First – to provide three ambulances for 911 calls at all times. If the number drops to two providers, the ordinance says each of those two providers must provide at least five ambulances. The city ordinance, similar to a Sangamon County government requirement for ambulances in other parts of the county, requires ambulances to be part of an EMS network.

LifeStar was cited by the city of Springfield in 2023 for providing an inadequate number of ambulances for emergency calls. The city’s final administrative penalty against the company in May 2024 included a fine of $38,950.

The company paid 10% of the total in May 2024 and is making payments of $380 per month, Springfield Corporation Counsel Gregory Moredock said. The company still owes the city about $27,000, Moredock said.

EMS networks train and supervise paramedics and emergency medical technicians and sets the rules under which those professionals provide care for patients outside hospitals.

Nonprofit Springfield Memorial Hospital, which also supervises America and MedicsFirst through the hospital’s EMS network, first took action in December 2025 to remove LifeStar from the network, Wright said.

According to Wright, Springfield Memorial faulted LifeStar for maintaining supplies of expired medicines in 2025 and for errors in documenting patient conditions.

Both situations were remedied, he said, adding that patients never received any expired medicines. A software glitch that caused documentation errors has been fixed, and patient care wasn’t affected, he said.

Wright said LifeStar approached HSHS St. John’s Hospital, which supervises an EMS network covering other ambulance providers, but was told by St. John’s officials that the hospital doesn’t have the capacity to consider adding LifeStar.

St. John’s spokesperson Mary Massingale said the hospital’s EMS system oversees 54 ambulance and fire agencies across 11 counties in central Illinois, including 10 in Sangamon County.

“We are also the medical direction for the Lincoln Land Community College Paramedic Program and Sangamon County 911,” Massingale said. “We have oversight of 734 EMS providers within these 54 agencies.”

LifeStar appealed Springfield Memorial’s decision to the Illinois Department of Public Health, Wright said. IDPH opted not to overturn Springfield Memorial’s ruling but gave LifeStar additional time before the network removal took effect, he said. That’s how the May 25 date for LifeStar’s potential removal was set.

IDPH spokesperson Jim Leach said the state-level decision referred to by Wright was made by the state’s EMS Disciplinary Review Board, not IDPH. The board is a separate entity, with members appointed by the governor, Leach said. A spokesperson for that board didn’t respond to a request for comment. 

Springfield Memorial officials declined to comment specifically on the situation.

Memorial spokesperson Anne Davis emailed the following response to Illinois Times’ request for an interview:

“Springfield Memorial Hospital, the designated Resource Hospital for the region, has a statutory responsibility for the coordination and oversight of the emergency medical services system in accordance with applicable state law and statutory requirements. Participation in the EMS system is conditioned on meeting established standards on an ongoing basis. When issues are identified, they are addressed through a formal review and appeal process prescribed by the Illinois EMS Act and overseen by the Illinois Department of Public Health.”

Davis added: “This matter has proceeded through that established process. Consistent with longstanding policy, Springfield Memorial Hospital does not comment on matters involving individual EMS providers. Our focus remains on supporting a coordinated, reliable EMS system and ensuring that patients throughout the region have access to safe, timely and appropriate emergency medical care.”

LifeStar, which operates in Springfield out of a building at 404 N. Second St., employs 65 people – 25 of them in Springfield, Wright said. The company has served Springfield since 1988.

LifeStar also serves the Jacksonville and Centralia areas, but the Springfield area is the busiest of the three in terms of 911 calls for service, and Springfield accounts for the biggest share of the company’s business, he said.

“We definitely want to continue providing care to the community,” Wright said.