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                                                                    Exhibit 31.1

CERTIFICATIONS :
I, Daniel P. McCartney, Chief Executive Officer, certify that:
    1.  I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of Healthcare
        Services Group, Inc.;
    2.  Based on my knowledge, this quarterly report does not contain any untrue
        statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary
        to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which
        such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the periods
        covered by this quarterly report;
    3.  Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
        information included in this quarterly report, fairly present in all
        material respects the financial condition, results of operations and
        cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in
        this quarterly report;
    4.  The registrants other certifying officer and I are responsible for
        establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures ( as
        defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal
        control over financial reporting ( as defined in Exchange Act Rules
        13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have;
            a)  designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
                disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
                supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
                registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made
                known to us by others within those entities, particularly during
                the period in which this quarterly report is being prepared;
            b)  designed such internal control over financial reporting, or
                caused such internal control over financial reporting to be
                designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance
                regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the
                preparation of financial statements for external purposes in
                accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;
            c)  evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure
                controls and procedures and presented in this quarterly report
                our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure
                controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by
                this report based on such evaluation and;
            d)  disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's internal
                control over financial reporting that occurred during the
                registrant's most recent fiscal quarter that has materially
                affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the
                registrant's internal control over financial reporting; and
    5.  The registrant's other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on
        our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting,
        to the registrant's auditors and the audit committee of registrant's
        Board of Directors.
            a)  all significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the
                design or operation of internal control over financial reporting
                which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant's
                ability to record, process, summarize and report financial
                information; and
            b)  any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or
                other employees who have a significant role in the registrant's
                internal control over financial reporting

    Date : April 25, 2005                              /s/ Daniel P. McCartney
                                                       ------------------------
                                                       Daniel P. McCartney
                                                       Chief Executive Officer