Medical Transport from New Jersey to Pennsylvania
Wheelchair and stretcher transport across the Delaware — Philadelphia hospital transfers, Poconos and Lehigh Valley moves, and same-day round trips for specialty appointments. The trip is too short for the national long-distance carriers and too far for a local ambulance. It's exactly what we do.
The Trip the National Carriers Won't Take
Here is the problem families hit when they try to book medical transport from New Jersey to Pennsylvania: the big national long-distance companies enforce trip minimums — commonly 200 or even 300 miles — and most NJ-to-PA trips don't come close. Philadelphia is 30 to 90 miles from most of South and Central Jersey. The Lehigh Valley is roughly 70 to 90 miles from North Jersey. The Poconos sit 60 to 100 miles out. Call a national carrier about any of these and you'll be told the trip is too short to dispatch. Meanwhile a local 911 ambulance is built for emergencies within its own service area, not a scheduled, stable-patient run across a state line. The result is a gap: a real interstate medical trip that almost nobody is set up to take.
Delta Medical Transportation has no mileage minimum. We're a New Jersey company based in Totowa, licensed as a Basic Life Support (BLS) provider, and the short interstate corridor is a routine part of our work — not an exception we make. A 45-mile stretcher transfer from Cherry Hill into Center City Philadelphia gets the same crew, the same oxygen-ready vehicle, and the same door-to-door handling as a 350-mile run to Pittsburgh. Whether the patient travels seated in a wheelchair-accessible van or lying flat on a stretcher, we quote the trip that actually exists instead of turning it away for being the wrong size.
This page covers the New Jersey–Pennsylvania corridor specifically. For how we handle longer multi-day routes, crew pacing, and overnight planning, see our long-distance medical transport hub — and for what actually drives the price of an interstate trip, our long-distance cost breakdown walks through every factor with no rate-card guesswork.
The Philadelphia Hospital Corridor: Penn, Jefferson, Temple & CHOP
For a large share of South and Central New Jersey, the nearest world-class specialty hospital isn't in New Jersey at all — it's across the Delaware River. Oncologists, transplant teams, and pediatric specialists refer NJ patients into Philadelphia every day, and every one of those referrals creates a transport question: how does a patient who can't sit in a car — or can't safely ride 90 minutes in one — actually get there?
Penn Medicine — Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP)
Transplant programs, advanced cancer care at the Abramson Cancer Center, neurology and cardiac specialties that draw referrals from across South and Central New Jersey.
Jefferson Health — Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
A frequent destination for NJ patients in spine, orthopedic, and neuroscience programs, minutes over the Ben Franklin Bridge from Camden County.
Temple University Hospital
Lung transplant and advanced pulmonary programs — trips where planned oxygen continuity in the vehicle matters more than on almost any other run we do.
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP)
Scheduled, non-emergency transfers for medically stable pediatric patients, with a parent riding along for the whole trip.
We run these transfers in both directions. Inbound, that means picking a patient up at home or at a New Jersey hospital and delivering them to the right entrance — admissions, the infusion suite, or a specific building on a campus that can span several city blocks. Outbound, it means being at the discharge door when Penn or Jefferson releases a New Jersey patient after surgery or treatment, and getting them home without the family improvising a car ride the care team already said was a bad idea. For patients who need to go from a hospital bed on one side of the river to a bed on the other, our bed-to-bed service means the crew handles every transfer point — no gap where the family has to lift anyone.
A note on CHOP: we transport medically stable children to scheduled appointments, planned admissions, and discharges — always with a parent or caregiver aboard. Critical and intensive-care pediatric transfers are the territory of CHOP's own transport teams, and if that's what your child needs, we'll say so on the phone rather than book a trip that isn't ours to take.
Same-Day Round Trips: There and Back with One Crew
Here's what makes this corridor different from almost every other interstate route we run: it's short enough to do both directions in a single day. A NJ-to-Florida move is a multi-day, one-way journey. A NJ-to-Philadelphia specialty appointment is a morning drive, a few hours at the hospital, and a ride home before dinner — if someone is there to wait. That's the wait-and-return, and it's how we run most Philadelphia appointment trips:
- 1
Morning pickup
The crew arrives at the patient's home or facility in New Jersey, handles the transfer into the vehicle, and secures any oxygen or equipment for the ride.
- 2
Delivery to the department
Not just the hospital's front curb — the crew brings the patient to the actual check-in point for their appointment, infusion, or procedure.
- 3
The crew waits
For a same-day visit, the crew stays at or near the hospital. There is no second dispatch, no gap in coverage, and no calling around at 3 p.m. to find a ride home.
- 4
Same-day return
When the visit is done, the same crew loads the patient back up and drives them home to New Jersey — one booking, one team, one all-in quote.
Wait time is part of the quote, priced up front by the expected length of the visit — tell us whether it's a 45-minute consult or a five-hour infusion and the number you get on the phone is the number on the invoice. For recurring Philadelphia treatment schedules, we can set the round trip up as a standing arrangement so the logistics are solved once instead of every week.
Poconos, Lehigh Valley & Lancaster: Moving to Pennsylvania for Good
Not every NJ-to-PA trip is a hospital run. Pennsylvania absorbs roughly 15 percent of the people who leave New Jersey each year, and a meaningful slice of them are older adults trading NJ costs for the Poconos, the Lehigh Valley, or Lancaster County — often to be near adult children who made the same move a decade earlier. When the person relocating uses a wheelchair, depends on oxygen, or can't manage two hours in a passenger seat, the moving truck is the easy part. Getting them there is the hard part, and it's the part we handle.
A move to Stroudsburg, Allentown, Bethlehem, or Lancaster is a comfortable single-day run from anywhere in New Jersey — well inside the ~500-miles-per-day pace we plan long trips around, with no overnight stop needed. We coordinate the pickup with the family's moving schedule, bring the patient door to door or bed to bed into the new home or community, and a family member rides along at no extra charge. If the new address is a second-floor bedroom in a house without an elevator — common in older Poconos and Lancaster housing stock — our crews bring stair chair equipment and get the patient up safely. Just mention the stairs when you book.
The long end of this route is Pittsburgh — about 350 miles from North Jersey, still a single-day trip for our crews. Families book it for UPMC specialty referrals and for relocations to family in western Pennsylvania. It prices like the longer interstate trip it is, but it books exactly the same way: origin, destination, the patient's needs, one phone call.
Pennsylvania Back to New Jersey: The Return Direction
Every corridor runs two ways, and this one especially. The most common return trip is the hospital discharge: a New Jersey resident finishes surgery or treatment at Penn, Jefferson, Temple, or CHOP and needs to get home to Marlton, Toms River, or Edison — lying flat, with oxygen, or simply too weak for a family car. Discharge planners on the Pennsylvania side often struggle to find a New Jersey-bound vehicle; we're based in Totowa, so bringing a patient home to NJ isn't a favor or an empty-leg special. It's our home territory.
The other return story is the move back. A parent who retired to the Poconos or Lancaster County ten years ago now needs more help than the area — or the distance — allows, and the family is bringing them home to New Jersey, often into an assisted-living or skilled-nursing community near their children. We pick up at the Pennsylvania home or facility, handle the transfer at both ends, and deliver the patient to their new place in NJ the same day. If you're calling from the Pennsylvania side, nothing changes: same number, same quote process, same crew standards. Call (973) 389-3110 with the two addresses and we'll take it from there.
NJ to Pennsylvania Transport — Frequently Asked Questions
Is NJ to Philadelphia too short a trip for a long-distance company?
For most national carriers, yes — many enforce a 200- or 300-mile trip minimum, and a 40- or 70-mile run from New Jersey to Philadelphia doesn't qualify. Delta has no mileage minimum. We quote and run NJ-to-Pennsylvania trips of any length, from a Cherry Hill-to-CHOP transfer to a full-day run to Pittsburgh. Call (973) 389-3110 and we'll price your exact trip.
Can you do a same-day round trip for a Philadelphia appointment?
Yes. Because the NJ-to-Philadelphia corridor is short, a wait-and-return is the normal way we run it: we bring the patient to the appointment, the crew waits or stays nearby, and we bring the patient home the same day. You book it as one round trip with one crew — there's no second company to arrange for the ride home.
Do you handle transfers to CHOP for pediatric patients?
We provide scheduled, non-emergency transport to CHOP for medically stable children — outpatient specialty visits, planned admissions, and discharges home to New Jersey — and a parent or caregiver rides along at no extra charge. Critical or intensive-care pediatric transfers are handled by CHOP's own specialized teams, and we'll tell you honestly if your child's situation calls for that instead.
How is a short interstate trip priced compared with a local NJ ride?
It's priced the same way — by the actual miles, the level of transport (wheelchair van or stretcher), any oxygen or equipment needs, wait time on a round trip, and tolls — not by a long-distance surcharge for crossing the state line. A run to Philadelphia prices much closer to a longer local trip than to a multi-day interstate move. We give one all-in quote by phone before you book.
Do you actually cross into Pennsylvania regularly?
Yes. Pennsylvania is New Jersey's next-door neighbor and one of the most common out-of-state destinations we serve — Philadelphia hospital transfers, Poconos and Lehigh Valley relocations, and returns in the other direction. These are routine runs for our crews, not special arrangements.
How much notice do you need to book an NJ-to-PA trip?
A day or two of notice is ideal because it lets us match the vehicle, crew, and timing to the trip — especially for stretcher-level transfers coordinated with a hospital's discharge or admission time. That said, short-corridor trips are easier to fit into a schedule than multi-day runs, so call even if the need is same-day or next-morning and we'll tell you straight what we can do.
Can you pick up in Pennsylvania and bring a patient home to New Jersey?
Yes — the route runs both ways. We regularly pick up patients discharging from Penn, Jefferson, Temple, and CHOP and bring them home to New Jersey, and we bring former NJ residents back from the Poconos or Lehigh Valley when their care is moving back to family here. Give us the pickup address in Pennsylvania and the destination in NJ and we'll quote it like any other trip.
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