Healthcare practice financing in Illinois

Read the third column first. A published summary is a starting point; the entity being funded is a question for Illinois healthcare counsel. Verified

Source: SBA 7(a) and 504 approval files, fiscal year 2025. Verified

CHICAGO leads Illinois with $10.0 million across 29 approvals, $344,386 each, which is the comparable set an appraiser reaches for on a purchase there. Verified

The table lists what is certified in Illinois and leaves out what is not. Not yet loaded flags a dataset still on the queue rather than an estimate standing in for a measurement. Verified

Cook leads Illinois with 150 certified providers, ahead of COOK at 40. A dense county gives an underwriter something to compare against; a sparse one leaves the practice's own reports to do the work. Verified

Illinois shows 31,152 establishments in these fields against 218 approvals, 0.7 per 100. Set beside 31,152 establishments, 218 approvals is a thin slice of how capital actually moves here. Verified

No Illinois county carries more of the base than Cook, with 13,814 establishments. Establishment counts set how long an acquisition search runs before a letter of intent is signed at all. Verified

Illinois employs 138,910 registered nurses on a mean wage of $95,990. A Illinois expansion budget that undershoots this wage tends to run out of working capital before the new chairs fill. Verified

Federal shortage designations total 7,033 in Illinois, concentrated in Cook with 4,870. For an owner, that is a staffing lever attached to a location decision rather than a discount on capital. Verified

• Residential care and treatment: 12 Illinois approvals totaling $21.9 million, $1.8 million each. With only 12 Illinois approvals behind $21.9 million, the underwriter reads documents rather than precedent.
• Physician and specialty offices: $19.2 million across 22 approvals, averaging $870,632. Above $870,632 the file needs collateral or trading history that most of those 22 Illinois borrowers did not have to show.
• Home health and hospice: $15.3 million across 43 approvals, averaging $355,451. Above $355,451 the file needs collateral or trading history that most of those 43 Illinois borrowers did not have to show.
• Dental offices: $657,623 average across 22 Illinois approvals worth $14.5 million, so a request in that range reads as routine rather than exceptional.
• Med spa and personal care: 22 approvals, $9.9 million, $449,459 average. A Illinois request near $449,459 sits inside the band 22 approvals already established.
• Veterinary practices: 9 approvals, $7.0 million, $776,200 average. A Illinois request near $776,200 sits inside the band 9 approvals already established.
• Behavioral health and ABA: 28 approvals, $4.9 million, $175,364 average. A Illinois request near $175,364 sits inside the band 28 approvals already established.
• Pharmacies: average approval $1.5 million over 3 closings worth $4.5 million. At $1.5 million against $4.5 million of state volume, that is an equipment or fit-out request more often than an acquisition.
• Laboratories and imaging: 4 Illinois approvals totaling $4.2 million, $1.0 million each. With only 4 Illinois approvals behind $4.2 million, the underwriter reads documents rather than precedent.

• Most of the money approved in Illinois went to residential care and treatment, 19 percent of it, at $1.8 million per approval. Match that size and the file follows a well-worn path; sit well under it and the request is usually equipment or working capital instead.
• Next in the Illinois file is physician and specialty offices at $19.2 million over 22 approvals, followed by home health and hospice. Where volume thins out, expect a longer memo, more history, and a smaller first advance.
• Certification files put 2,088 medical equipment suppliers in Illinois. Certification is a license to bill, and a funder treats it as revenue evidence a start-up cannot produce, which is why an established certified operator sees longer terms on the same request.
• 18 of the Illinois approvals came through 504 rather than 7(a), which is the real estate signal in this file: the borrower bought the premises. Real estate deals run longer than working capital deals, and the local count tells an owner whether lenders here are used to closing them.

• 218 SBA approvals to Illinois healthcare borrowers in FY2025¹
• $116.3 million approved, averaging $533,315 per loan¹
• 3,233 CMS-certified providers across 5 categories²

• Healthcare AR line and payroll funding
• Partner buy-in, buy-out, and refinance
• Commercial real estate, owner-occupied
• Expansion, relocation, and build-out
• Medical receivables factoring
• SBA 7(a) and 504
• Working capital term loan

• Illinois National Health Service Corps State Loan Repayment Program, the state loan repayment route for clinicians recruited into shortage areas
• Illinois State Medical Board (IDFPR), licensure and ownership questions for physicians
• Illinois Board of Dentistry (IDFPR), licensure and ownership questions for dentists

Also covered in Illinois: North Chicago, Arlington Heights, Glendale Heights, Lake Forest, Libertyville, Wheeling, Galesburg, Chicago Heights, Palatine, Streamwood, Harvey, Sterling, Mount Vernon, Winfield, Effingham, Richton Park, Danville, Oak Forest, Tinley Park, Matteson, Niles, Oak Park, La Grange, McHenry, Mattoon, Berwyn, Jacksonville, Maywood

• All states covered
• Every financing program
• Kentucky healthcare practice financing, for a side-by-side on rules and loan volume
• Massachusetts healthcare practice financing, where the same fields price differently
• Missouri healthcare practice financing, if the practice operates across the line
• Specialty physician groups, read on the terms that field is underwritten on
• Skilled nursing, assisted living, and memory care, and where the collateral usually comes from
• Mobile diagnostics, with the capital events that field actually runs
• Med spa and aesthetics, with the payer profile behind the numbers
• Chiropractic, with the capital events that field actually runs
• Hormone, TRT, and men's health clinics, including what collections history is asked for

1. 1SBA 7(a) and 504 approvals, FY2025
2. 2CMS provider certification files
3. 3NPPES provider registry
4. 4County Business Patterns 2022
5. 5BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, OEWS 2025
6. 6HRSA health professional shortage area file
7. 7Illinois corporate practice rules
8. 8Illinois certificate of need
9. 9Illinois National Health Service Corps State Loan Repayment Program
10. 10Illinois State Medical Board (IDFPR)
11. 11Illinois Board of Dentistry (IDFPR)