In Lancaster County , the healthcare industry is growing rapidly, and long-term care is the fastest growing segment within healthcare. (Click here for a profile of Lancaster County Industry Clusters)

Types of employers in this industry include

• home health equipment rental (532291)
• home health services (62161)
• nursing care facilities (62311)
• residential mental retardation facilities (62321)
• residential mental health and substance abuse care (62322)
• community care facilities (62331)
• other residential care facilities (62399)
• services for the elderly and disabled (62412)

Within Lancaster County, long-term care providers employed 9,839 or 4.48% of the area workforce in 2002.

From 2001 to 2002, 792 new jobs were added in long term care in the county.

Nursing care facilities in the county employed 4,717 people in 2002. Community care facilities for the elderly employed 3,004 people in 2002.

Click here for a statistical profile of long-term care in Lancaster County with employment numbers

Lancaster was rated 21st among metropolitan areas in the United State with regard to location quotient (the concentration of the sector in an economy) and share of national employment on the nursing and personal care facilities poll in "America's Health Care Economy" published in August 2002 by the Milken Institute. Philadelphia ranked 2, Pittsburg ranked 9, and Scranton-Wilkes Barre-Hazleton ranked 22. (Click here to download the Milken study.)