A physical therapy clinic in Kokomo, Indiana needs equipment, a fitted-out space and payroll to cover the months before insurance payments catch up. Palmwick Lending, a small-business funding service in Kokomo, Indiana, walks through financing each piece and what lending partners usually review for a therapy clinic request.
A Clinic's Three Costs and the Structure for Each
Opening or expanding a physical therapy clinic involves three different kinds of cost. Equipment, such as treatment tables, parallel bars, exercise machines and modality units, lasts years and suits equipment financing. The space, with flooring, private treatment rooms and accessible restrooms, suits a term loan if the improvements are substantial. Payroll during the first months, before reimbursements arrive, suits working capital or a line of credit. Treating all three as one request can mean paying short-term rates on long-term assets.
Chiropractic and PT Equipment Financing
Physical therapy and chiropractic equipment financing works the same way: the equipment secures the loan or lease, and the term should match how long it lasts. Partners ask for vendor quotes and, for used equipment, its age and condition. This site's loan payment calculator gives the monthly payment, total interest and total repaid for any amount, rate and term, which works for equipment too.
Hypothetical figures for illustration only: a starting equipment package of $55,000 might include four treatment tables, a set of parallel bars, cardio and strength machines, and two modality units. Ask the vendor to list installation and delivery separately; some partners finance only the equipment.
The Payroll Ramp Before Reimbursement
Therapists are paid from their first day, but insurance reimbursement can take weeks after each visit. A clinic adding a therapist faces two or three months in which wages go out before the related claims are paid. Hypothetical figures for illustration only: a therapist costing $6,500 a month, with claims paying an average of 45 days after the visit, leaves the clinic about $10,000 behind before collections catch up. That is the gap a physical therapy business loan for working capital is sized to.
Leasing Versus Buying Rehab Equipment
Leasing can make sense for equipment a clinic expects to upgrade, such as cardio machines or modality units with changing technology. Buying, through an equipment loan, suits long-lived items such as treatment tables and parallel bars. Compare the total of all lease payments plus any end-of-term buyout with the total repaid on a loan for the same equipment; the cheaper monthly payment is not always the cheaper choice.
What Partners Review for a Clinic
- Collections history by month, if the clinic is open, and an accounts-receivable aging report.
- The payer mix: which insurers and how much is self-pay.
- Vendor quotes for equipment.
- The lease and build-out quotes.
- Bank statements and the owner's credit.
For a new clinic, partners lean more on the owner's background and the lease. Build-out work should be checked against zoning and permits first; the Kokomo, Indiana permits checklist lists what to confirm.
Howard County, IN Practitioners in the Census Counts
County Business Patterns counted 57 offices of other health practitioners, the category that includes physical therapists, chiropractors and optometrists, as employer establishments in Howard County, IN in 2023. They employed 552 people with $25.0 million in payroll, about $45,300 per employee (our arithmetic), and 45.6% had fewer than five employees. Sixteen had a ZIP 46901 address (ZBP 2023).
Nonemployer Statistics counted 87 such practices with no paid employees in 2024, a separate program and year. More is on the chiropractic, therapy and optometry page and the Kokomo, IN page.
By Palmwick Lending · Updated