The PennSTAR Flight program is the non profit critical care flight and ground transportation service of Penn Medicine. As a national leader in air medical safety and patient care, PennSTAR embraces proven aviation safety technologies as well as a steadfast commitment to a culture of safety. To request a flight or arrange ground transportation to or from any hospital or scene, call 800-543-STAR.
PennSTAR provides the highest quality patient care by employing and retaining high quality clinicians, promoting continuous improvement, and providing exceptional educational opportunities and experiences to clinicians.
PennSTAR’ air and ground ambulances respond to all patient requests as quickly as safety permits, regardless of the patients' ability to pay. By valuing the trust of our communities and healthcare colleagues that PennSTAR serves, the program's mission is fulfilled in a fiscally and socially responsible manner.
About The PennSTAR Flight Team
The PennSTAR Flight Program provides critical care air and ground medical transportation to the Tri-State Area within a 100-mile radius of Penn Medicine. PennSTAR provides rapid transport of critical care patients between medical centers, as well as "on-scene" services at the site of accidents and trauma-related incidents with our brothers and sisters in Police, Fire and EMS.
We operate three air medical helicopters and two critical care ambulances 24-hours a day, seven days per week, staffed by expert Pilots, PA and NJ certified critical care Flight Nurses, Nationally Registered Flight Paramedics (NREMT-P), and Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT’s). Clinicians are cross-trained to operate in both helicopter and critical care ambulance so the superior level of care delivered to our patients is consistent regardless of the transport modality. All transport requests and support communications between our transport teams, medical centers, and emergency crews are coordinated and integrated by our communications center, PennCOMM.
Since 1988, PennSTAR has safely transported 63,000 patients in six states.
The PennSTAR dedicated onsite Communications Center, PennCOMM, is the intake and coordination center for Penn Presbyterian Medical Center's Penn Heart Rescue Program and Penn Critical Care Rescue programs. Referring physicians can be expeditiously connected to Penn Medicine Critical Care Physician Specialists with one phone call for consultation while simultaneously obtaining PennSTAR-arranged flight or ground critical care transportation, if necessary.
- All FAA Part 135 aviation services provided by Metro Aviation, Inc., which maintains exclusive operational control over all aircraft.
- Dispatch, Clinical Charting, Decision Analytics, and Billing & Collections provided by Golden Hour/emsCharts.
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History of the PennSTAR Program
In 1986, the University of Pennsylvania Health System recognized the need for a safe and rapid means of transporting medical patients to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Led by internationally prominent trauma surgeon C. William Schwab, MD, the PennSTAR flight program was formed with the start of PennSTAR 1 and began patient flights in the summer of 1988.
In 2018, the PennSTAR Flight Program celebrated its 30 year anniversary.
- PennSTAR 4 was added in 2005 and serves Berks, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Montgomery and Schuylkill counties in PA – from Reading Hospital.
- PennSTAR 6 was added in 2006 and operates out of South Jersey Regional Airport in New Jersey.
- PennSTAR Ground (SCT and ALS) was added in 2011 and operates its Interfacility transport ambulances out of Wings Airport in Montgomery County and Good Shepherd Penn Partners in Philadelphia County.
PennSTAR proudly and safely serves the people of Eastern PA, NJ & DE tri-state.
Facts and Figures
- PennSTAR is a fully licensed flight and critical care ambulance service in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.
- Since 1998, the PennSTAR flight team has flown the equivalent mileage to circle the earth more than 65 times and rendered lifesaving care to 63,000 patients.
- PennSTAR aircraft can reach all parts of Delaware, New Jersey, central Pennsylvania and southern New York in 30 minutes or less.
PennSTAR Flight is the only not-for-profit air medical (HEMS) helicopter service operating in the Delaware Valley, and participates with most insurance plans for medically necessary patient flights.