Larkpine Lending Group, an Iowa City, IA small-business funding service, explains funding for chiropractic, physical therapy and optometry practices: equipment financing for tables, rehab and exam equipment, term loans to open or buy a practice, and working capital while insurance claims pay. Johnson County counts come from Census County Business Patterns 2023.
| Other health practitioner offices in Johnson County, IA, CBP 2023 | 123 |
|---|---|
| Under five employees | 62.6% |
| Paid employees | 740 |
| Practitioners without payroll (2024) | 310 |
| Structures to compare | Equipment loans and term loans |
Chiropractic equipment financing, plus therapy and optical gear
Adjusting tables, decompression units, ultrasound and electrical stimulation devices, rehab equipment, and for optometrists, exam lanes, retinal cameras and edgers, are the big purchases. Each can be financed on its own and secured by the item. New and used both qualify with many partners; used medical equipment needs a quote listing age, condition and service history.
The equipment financing page explains loans versus leases. Technology that dates quickly, such as imaging, may be leased so it can be replaced.
How to open a chiropractic practice: the funding side
Opening costs fall into three groups: equipment, the build-out of treatment rooms, and the months of rent and payroll before visits and claims cover them. Partners are cautious with brand-new practices because there is no billing history to read. Equipment financing is backed by the equipment itself; a term loan for the build-out may call for collateral or a personal-guarantee clause.
Licensing, credentialing with insurers and lease negotiations come before any funding request; your attorney and a credentialing adviser handle those.
Business loans for physical therapy clinics and practices
Physical therapy clinics run larger floors than a single-room chiropractic office: parallel bars, treadmills, treatment tables in rows, and more people on the floor per visit. Payroll can grow faster than equipment. Business loans for physical therapy practices therefore lean toward working capital and lines of credit once the equipment is in place.
Illustrative arithmetic (not an offer)
A therapy clinic bills $70,000 a month, and insurers pay on average 40 days after the visit. At any time about $93,000 is outstanding. If a payer slows to 60 days, another $47,000 is tied up for a while. A working capital loan sized to that slowdown is repaid as the delayed claims arrive.
Buying an existing practice
Buying a practice, including an optometry office with its frame inventory and patient records, is usually a term loan, often with some seller financing. The practice-purchase article breaks down what the price covers and which parts a partner will fund. The term loan page covers acquisition financing generally.
Practitioners in Johnson County, IA by the numbers
Johnson County, IA had 123 offices of other health practitioners in 2023 (NAICS 6213: chiropractors, physical, occupational and speech therapists, optometrists and others), with 740 paid employees and about $35.3 million in annual payroll (U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023). Of those, 77 (62.6%) ran with fewer than five people. Nonemployer Statistics 2024 counted 310 practitioners in the same code with no paid employees and about $19.0 million in receipts.
Physician practices and dental offices have their own pages. Further Johnson County, IA numbers sit on the Iowa City, IA page.
What a partner reads in a practice file
- Collections by month and days to payment by payer
- Payer mix: insurers, cash patients, workers' compensation
- Equipment quotes
- The lease and any build-out allowance
- For a purchase: the seller's collections history and patient counts
Cash-pay, insurance and mixed practices
A practice that is mostly cash-pay collects at the visit and has a short cash cycle; a practice that bills insurers waits weeks. A practice can be a mix of the two. Partners read the mix, because it determines how quickly new revenue turns into cash and how much working capital the practice needs as it grows.
If you are adding a provider, the added payroll starts before the added visits are paid; size any working capital request to that delay, not to the full salary.
Questions to answer before asking
- What share of collections comes from each payer, and how long does each take?
- How many active patients return each year?
- Which equipment is owned, leased or near the end of its life?
- Is there room in the space for another treatment room?
By Larkpine Lending Group · Updated