Indiana micro-market
Healthcare practice financing in Lake Station, Indiana
Direct answer
Density decides a lot here. Lake Station runs 16.1 providers per 10,000 residents, 21 clinicians against 13,033 people, 38 percent of them in general dentistry, while Lake County lenders have approved 4 healthcare files worth $961,100 and the nearest metro is 22 miles out.
A location page indicates that Practition Finance is taking clients in that market. It does not represent a physical office, storefront, or licensed presence in that city or state. All services are delivered remotely by our US-based team. How a referral works in Indiana, and how many partners see it, is set out on the Indiana page.
- Population: 13,033 residents (10K-25K band)1
- Healthcare providers registered here: 21 across 7 fields2
- Median household income: $56,3063
- Largest provider field: General dentistry: 8 registered providers2
- Nearest metro: Michigan City-La Porte, IN, 22 miles1
- SBA healthcare approvals in the county: 4 approvals totaling $961,1004
The provider census in Lake Station
Counted at the town's own addresses: 21 providers, 7 fields, 16.1 clinicians per 10,000 of the 13,033 residents here
| Specialty | Enumerated clinicians | Density per 10,000 | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| General dentistry | 8 | 6.1 | NPPES [2] |
| Primary care and family medicine | 7 | 5.4 | NPPES [2] |
| Optometry and ophthalmology | 2 | 1.5 | NPPES [2] |
| DME and HME suppliers | 1 | 0.8 | NPPES [2] |
| NEMT and ambulance | 1 | 0.8 | NPPES [2] |
| Non-medical home care | 1 | 0.8 | NPPES [2] |
| ABA and autism therapy | 1 | 0.8 | NPPES [2] |
| Medical equipment suppliers | 1 | CMS [5] |
General dentistry carries 8 of the 21 enumerated providers here, and several of them can sit inside one practice. Read the column as clinicians, not owners.
Loan activity in Lake County
The county file holds 4 healthcare approvals, which is a thin comparable set for anyone pricing collateral
| What it measures | Value | How to read it |
|---|---|---|
| Healthcare files approved | 4 | Fiscal year published in the SBA file [4] |
| Dollars behind them | $961,100 | Sum of approvals to healthcare borrowers [4] |
| Typical approval size | $240,275 | Dollars divided by approvals [4] |
| Credit offices operating locally | 242 | Credit intermediation establishments, NAICS 522 [6] |
The consequence of these numbers
The ratio that matters up front is 16.1 per 10,000, which decides whether a ramp schedule reads as conservative. With 4 approvals on record in Lake County, expect a longer appraisal and a wider collateral discount. A $56,306 median household income here sets the ceiling on what an elective or cash-pay line can be expected to carry.
Where a file from this town usually lands
- Practice acquisition
- Expansion, relocation, and build-out
- Startup and de novo
- Equipment financing and leasing
- SBA 7(a) and 504
The order comes from Lake Station's own provider mix, which general dentistry dominates at 38 percent. What a partner can actually place in Indiana is a separate question.
The first pages of a Lake Station file
What a funder opens first depends on the field. In Lake Station that means general dentistry, primary care and family medicine, optometry and ophthalmology.
| Practice type | The pages that decide it | Typical capital event |
|---|---|---|
| General dentistry (8) | Three years of collections history, Hygiene as a share of collections, Overhead ratio and owner add-backs | Acquisition of an established practice |
| Primary care and family medicine (7) | Panel size, Value-based contract exposure, Provider productivity | Acquisition |
| Optometry and ophthalmology (2) | Exam volume and optical capture, Vision plan mix, Inventory turns | Cold start or acquisition |
Counts in the first column are Lake Station providers from NPPES. The other two columns describe how funders read that field across markets like Lake Station, not what any funder will do with your file.
Lake Station against nearby Indiana markets
Comparables travel. These are the Indiana towns whose density, at 16.1 per 10,000 here, gets weighed beside this one.
| Town | Residents | Providers | Per 10,000 | Miles away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Station (current) | 13,033 | 21 | 16.1 | |
| Portage | 38,576 | 205 | 53.1 | 4 |
| Gary | 67,555 | 252 | 37.3 | 5 |
| Hobart | 29,418 | 123 | 41.8 | 5 |
| Merrillville | 36,989 | 826 | 223.3 | 8 |
| Griffith | 16,192 | 56 | 34.6 | 9 |
| Chesterton | 14,655 | 284 | 193.8 | 10 |
What the geography does to a Lake Station projection
Michigan City-La Porte, IN lies 22 miles from Lake Station, close enough that appraisers price the lease against Michigan City-La Porte, IN rents while 13,033 residents set the revenue ceiling. Median household income runs $56,306, which is the number a funder converts into case acceptance on anything elective or cash-pay. Referral flow comes from outside Lake Station, which a projection needs to state plainly.
Other Indiana markets
- Portage 38,576 residents
- Gary 67,555 residents
- Hobart 29,418 residents
- Merrillville 36,989 residents
- Griffith 16,192 residents
- Chesterton 14,655 residents
Lake Station owners, answered
01How many providers practice in Lake Station, and in what?
21 enumerations sit at Lake Station addresses in the monthly NPPES file, working out to 16.1 for every 10,000 residents. 38 percent of them are general dentistry, and primary care and family medicine follows with 7. An enumeration is a clinician, so the 21 here cover fewer than 21 practices.
02What does Lake County's shortage designation change?
Designated for primary care, dental, mental health, Lake County qualifies its clinicians for federal repayment support. On a file that turns on adding staff, that is the difference between a hiring assumption and a hiring plan.
03Why does Lake County show so little SBA activity?
The published file records 4 7(a) and 504 approvals to healthcare borrowers in Lake County. That tracks how few Lake County practices changed hands that year, not credit quality. 242 credit intermediation establishments operate in Lake County, so the lending capacity is local even where the healthcare history is not.
04What does a $56,306 median income mean for case acceptance?
Median household income in Lake Station runs $56,306. On elective and cash-pay work that is the number a funder converts into case acceptance, and it sets how much of a treatment plan a projection can assume gets started rather than deferred.
05Is Lake Station underwritten as part of Michigan City-La Porte, IN?
Comparables and demand split at 22 miles. An appraiser prices the lease and the equipment off Michigan City-La Porte, IN; the revenue line has to hold up against 13,033 local residents.
06Which fields carry the volume in Lake Station?
General dentistry at 8 providers and primary care and family medicine at 7 lead the 7 fields enumerated here. A funder reads that mix as the local competition set and the local hiring pool at once, before it reads a single line of your own numbers.
Sources
- 1U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates, vintage 2024
- 2CMS NPPES, monthly full replacement file
- 3U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year 2023, table B19013
- 4U.S. Small Business Administration, 7(a) and 504 approvals
- 5CMS Care Compare provider datasets
- 6U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2022
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