The health care sector is the strongest growth area in the United States.

More new jobs, both wage and salary, are expected to be created through 2014 in health care than in any other industry nationally, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Health Care target is comprised of two niches: medical services and medical equipment. Medical services includes hospital care, ambulatory health care services (e.g. practitioner offices), and nursing and residential care facilities. Medical equipment allows opportunities in supporting medical services and health care consumers.

Waco's medical sector is experiencing robust growth with $330 million in expansion since 2005, and health and education employment reaching 19% of the economy--1.5 times the national average.

The diverse sector is anchored for accredited hospitals with clinic networks, the top-rated University of Texas family practice residency at the Family Health Center and the Central Texas Veterans Administration Health Center.

Waco is located with 200 miles of the majority of Texas' major medical centers.

Additionally, Waco's health care sector includes pharmaceutical and medical education product manufacturers Allergan and WRS Group, respectively. The sector is supported by a base of wholesale and service firms. About 50 percent of a hospital's cost is labor and about 20 percent is supplies. Waco is in a natural location for the manufacturing and distribution of health-related products.

The Greater Waco Strategic Economic Development Plan recognizes this trend and calls for expanding existing services and infrastructure for industry suppliers.

Central Texas has a need for expanded services to meet the needs of a growing community and aging population.

Waco's two non-profit acute-care hospitals, Providence Healthcare Network and Hillcrest Health System, are two of the top five employers in Greater Waco.

Providence is undergoing a $6.5 million renovation and expansion project to include upates to the Women and Newborns Center. Serving the Waco community since 1905, Providence Healthcare Network includes the Providence Health Center, a 214-bed acute care full-service medical center, several Providence Clinics, the DePaul Center, Providence Home Care and Providence Park.

Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center operates a 237-bed acute care hospital on Interstate 35; Hillcrest Herring Campus, a post-acute care campus; and Hillcrest Family Health Center, a network of primary care clinics. HBMC is jointly operated by Scott & White Healthcare and is home to Waco's only Neonatal Intensive Care Unit andt the area's only Level II Trauma Center.

The Veterans Affairs (VA) Hospital also is a top employer with almost 800 employees.

The VA Hospital provides research and training opportunities for lab technicians, pharmacy technicians and people who are thinking toward a health care career.

The Scott & White System has four clinics, a pharmacy, a physical therapy clinic and the Scott & White Health Plan in McLennan County adding 230 employees to the health care sector.

The Family Health Center provides a residency training program for medical students and sees more than 110,000 patients each year serving as a key resource for health care services for the elderly and infirm in Greater Waco.

The Family Health Center's accredited residency training program, the first of its kind in Texas, began in 1970 to gain more physicians for the community.

More than half of the family physicians in McLennan County were trained by the Family Practice Center and stayed in the community.

The new Greater Waco Health Care Alliance, chaired by Dr. Roland Goertz, director of the Family Health Center, has named its mission to establish the area as a leading health care center in Texas.

Waco ISD offers programs for students at University High School in health careers, and students at Waco High School and the A.J. Moore Academy also can receive training by taking dual credit courses at McLennan Community College and Texas State Technical College Waco. Students can earn certifications as a nurse assistant, dental assistant, emergency medical technician or phlebotomist.

MCC health careers program includes a gamut of programs led by a two-year associate degree in nursing. Other health care-related courses include emergency medical services, medical technology, vocational nursing, lab technician, radiology technician, respiratory care and physical therapist assistant.

TSTC is the only civilian biomedical two-year program in the nation that has an MRI and a CT machine on campus, said Roger Bowles, interim department chair for biomedical equipment technology.
Students can learn the range of medical imaging and other medical electronic equipment or choose the dental assistant or environmental health and safety technology programs.