PA Long-Term Care Statistics

Fast Facts

Pennsylvania’s Aging Population

  • Pennsylvania has almost 2 million citizens over age 651
  • Pennsylvania ranks third in the U.S. by percentage of the population age 65 and older (behind Florida and West Virginia), and 1 in 5 Pennsylvanians are 60 or older.2 Pennsylvania ranks fourth in the U.S. by number of population over age 85, those who are the most intensive users of nursing home care.3
  • By 2020, Pennsylvania’s 60 and older population is expected to be 25% of the total population --- more than 3 million people.4 By 2020, the number of people age 85 or older is expected to increase 10% to more than 360,000 residents.5

Long-term care statistics

  • Nearly 70 percent of those turning 65 this year eventually will require long-term care in their lifetimes.6

Pennsylvania’s Nursing Homes

  • Pennsylvania has approximately 730 nursing homes with 90,000 beds.7
  • Nursing homes, on average, are more than 90% occupied (over 80,000 residents).8
  • Nationally, the average annual cost for a private room in a nursing home is $74,806. The average annual cost for a private room in a Pennsylvania nursing home is $77,646. In the greater Philadelphia region, the cost is higher, at $91,954 annually.9
  • In Pennsylvania, the typical nursing home resident is more likely to be female, over the age of 85, widowed and have some form of dementia, although the number of post-acute hospital short stay patients requiring intensive medical rehabilitation services is increasing.10

Pennsylvania’s Personal Care Homes

  • Pennsylvania has more than 1,500 licensed personal care homes serving approximately 51,700 residents. “Assisted Living” homes and personal care homes are currently one and the same in Pennsylvania.11
  • The average annual cost of a personal care home is $2,714 a month for a one-bedroom unit, reflecting an average annual cost of $32,572.12

Medicare and Medicaid

  • Medicaid is a joint state and federal program that pays for nearly 65 percent of resident days of care in Pennsylvania’s nursing homes. Medicare, a federal program, pays for approximately 13% of care.13
  • The Medicaid program is designed to help people with low income and virtually no assets pay for health care. Thirty percent of the Medicaid recipients in nursing homes today have qualified for Medicaid by exhausting personal assets to pay for the care and services they receive.
  • Medicaid pays an average of $7.50 per hour for care and services in nursing homes. According to the BDO Seidman report, nursing homes costs of care for Medicaid patients exceed the actual Medicaid reimbursement by $11.91 per day.14

Impact of Nursing Homes in PA

  • In 2005, Pennsylvania’s nursing homes had almost $6 billion in gross revenues and employed, directly and indirectly, approximately 130,000 full-time and part-time individuals.15 The 629 facilities across the Commonwealth that participate in the Medicaid Assistance program paid almost $4.0 billion in salaries, fringe benefits, and contract nursing services, and over $28 million in real estate taxes.16 In addition, the $6 billion in direct revenues generated an indirect economic impact of $14 billion, which supported approximately 106,000 more workers.17
  • Nursing Homes leverage employment--for every $1 million spent on nursing home care and services 35 jobs are created.18

End Notes

  1. 2005 U.S. Census Estimates
  2. 2005 U.S. Census Estimates
  3. 2005 U.S. Census Estimates
  4. Rendell Administration Budget Mid-Year Briefing
  5. Legislative Budget and Finance Committee April 2005 “Long-Term Care for the Elderly in Pennsylvania”
  6. 2006 Congressional Quarterly Report
  7. PA Department of Health website
  8. PA Department of Health website
  9. Genworth Financial 2007 Cost of Care Survey
  10. 2005 PA Department of Health Long-Term Care Questionnaire
  11. PA Department of Public Welfare January 2, 2007 Personal Care Homes Monthly Statistical Report
  12. Genworth Financial 2007 Cost of Care Survey
  13. 2005 PA Department of Health Long-Term Care Questionnaire
  14. BDO Seidman June 2006 “A Report on Shortfalls in Medicaid Funding for Nursing Home Care”
  15. Estimates based on the 2005 PA Department of Health Long-Term Care Questionnaire and the Lewin Group, March 2005 “Volume 1: The Economic Impact of Nursing Homes in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania”
  16. 2005 PA Department of Public Welfare Medicaid Cost Reports
  17. Estimates based on The Lewin Group March 2005 "Volume I: The Economic Impact of Nursing Homes in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania"
  18. The Lewin Group March 2005 “Volume I: The Economic Impact of Nursing Homes in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania”