Tennessee micro-market
Healthcare practice financing in Athens, Tennessee
Direct answer
McMinn County carries 0 SBA healthcare approvals worth $0, and inside Athens the census shows 241 enumerated clinicians against 15,050 residents, 160.1 per 10,000, 37 percent of them in physical, occupational, and speech therapy. Cleveland, TN lies 24 miles away.
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 Tennessee, and how many partners see it, is set out on the Tennessee page.
- Population: 15,050 residents (10K-25K band)1
- Healthcare providers registered here: 241 across 26 fields2
- Median household income: $53,1513
- Largest provider field: Physical, occupational, and speech therapy: 88 registered providers2
- Medicare-certified providers in town: 3 across 3 categories4
- Nearest metro: Cleveland, TN, 24 miles1
What NPPES records at Athens addresses
160.1 providers per 10,000 residents is what 241 enumerations across 26 fields works out to in a town of 15,050
| Specialty | Enumerated clinicians | Density per 10,000 | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Physical, occupational, and speech therapy | 88 | 58.5 | NPPES [2] |
| Primary care and family medicine | 26 | 17.3 | NPPES [2] |
| Behavioral and mental health group practices | 25 | 16.6 | NPPES [2] |
| Optometry and ophthalmology | 17 | 11.3 | NPPES [2] |
| DME and HME suppliers | 15 | 10.0 | NPPES [2] |
| General dentistry | 15 | 10.0 | NPPES [2] |
| Chiropractic | 9 | 6.0 | NPPES [2] |
| Specialty physician groups | 8 | 5.3 | NPPES [2] |
| Independent pharmacy | 5 | 3.3 | NPPES [2] |
| Non-medical home care | 4 | 2.7 | NPPES [2] |
| Podiatry | 3 | 2.0 | NPPES [2] |
| Home health | 3 | 2.0 | NPPES [2] |
| Skilled nursing, assisted living, and memory care | 3 | 2.0 | NPPES [2] |
| ASCs and OBLs | 2 | 1.3 | NPPES [2] |
| Dental specialties | 2 | 1.3 | NPPES [2] |
| NEMT and ambulance | 2 | 1.3 | NPPES [2] |
| Hospice and palliative | 2 | 1.3 | NPPES [2] |
| Med spa and aesthetics | 2 | 1.3 | NPPES [2] |
| Telehealth and virtual clinics | 2 | 1.3 | NPPES [2] |
| Occupational health and drug testing | 2 | 1.3 | NPPES [2] |
| Dermatology | 1 | 0.7 | NPPES [2] |
| Urgent care | 1 | 0.7 | NPPES [2] |
| SUD treatment and residential | 1 | 0.7 | NPPES [2] |
| Audiology and hearing centers | 1 | 0.7 | NPPES [2] |
| Ketamine, TMS, and interventional psychiatry | 1 | 0.7 | NPPES [2] |
| Dialysis and infusion centers | 1 | 0.7 | NPPES [2] |
| Medical equipment suppliers | 13 | CMS [4] | |
| Ambulatory surgical centers | 1 | CMS [4] | |
| Dialysis facilities | 1 | CMS [4] | |
| Home health agencies | 1 | CMS [4] |
Physical, occupational, and speech therapy carries 88 of the 241 enumerated providers here, and several of them can sit inside one practice. Read the column as clinicians, not owners.
What McMinn County credit files already show
The county file holds 0 healthcare approvals, which is a thin comparable set for anyone pricing collateral
| What it measures | Value | How to read it |
|---|---|---|
| Approvals on record | 0 | Counted for the fiscal year the SBA publishes [5] |
| Total approved capital | $0 | Everything approved to healthcare borrowers, added up [5] |
| Mean deal size | No approvals recorded | The dollar column over the approval column [5] |
| Lenders sited in the county | 51 | Places that write credit locally, NAICS 522 [6] |
The consequence of these numbers
The ratio that matters up front is 160.1 per 10,000, which decides whether a ramp schedule reads as conservative. McMinn County has 0 approvals to compare against, so plan for extra appraisal time and a conservative valuation. Household income of $53,151 in Athens is the number a lender uses to sanity check the self-pay share of a revenue projection.
The programs this provider mix points at
- Practice acquisition
- Startup and de novo
- Working capital term loan
- Expansion, relocation, and build-out
- Equipment financing and leasing
The 26 fields practicing locally set this order. A funding partner, not this list, decides what is available in Tennessee.
Underwriting by field in Athens
What a funder opens first depends on the field. In Athens that means physical, occupational, and speech therapy, primary care and family medicine, behavioral and mental health group practices.
| Practice type | The pages that decide it | Typical capital event |
|---|---|---|
| Physical, occupational, and speech therapy (88) | Visits per case, Referral source concentration, Payer mix and authorization rules | Startup or expansion clinic |
| Primary care and family medicine (26) | Panel size, Value-based contract exposure, Provider productivity | Acquisition |
| Behavioral and mental health group practices (25) | Clinician retention and productivity, Payer mix and Medicaid concentration, Re-authorization and session limit exposure | Working capital through the credentialing lag |
Local counts come from NPPES. What a file turns on is drawn from how the field is generally reviewed, not from any decision about your practice.
Athens against nearby Tennessee markets
The neighboring markets below are the ones a valuation borrows from when Athens has too few sales of its own
| Comparable | People | Enumerations | Per 10,000 residents | Miles |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Athens (current) | 15,050 | 241 | 160.1 | |
| Cleveland | 50,232 | 551 | 109.7 | 24 |
| Farragut | 25,242 | 52 | 20.6 | 38 |
| Oak Ridge | 34,039 | 331 | 97.2 | 39 |
| Maryville | 32,373 | 531 | 164.0 | 40 |
| Crossville | 12,785 | 261 | 204.1 | 42 |
| Alcoa | 13,588 | 130 | 95.7 | 43 |
What the geography does to a Athens projection
24 miles separate Athens from Cleveland, TN. Lease pricing follows Cleveland, TN, while revenue stays capped by the 15,050 residents here. At $53,151 median household income, the elective and cash-pay share of a projection is the line that gets tested first. A Medicare-certified hospital operates here, so referral flow is verifiable and the clinical wage floor is already set. A degree-granting institution here moves volume on the academic calendar. Athens is the McMinn County seat, so county employment steadies the payer mix.
Nearby Tennessee towns
Athens owners, answered
01How many providers practice in Athens, and in what?
NPPES lists 241 providers at a Athens practice address, 160.1 per 10,000 residents across 26 tracked fields. Physical, occupational, and speech therapy accounts for 88 of them, 37 percent of the total, with primary care and family medicine next at 26. Read that as clinicians: 241 enumerations, not 241 owners.
02What does McMinn County's shortage designation change?
Designated for primary care, dental, mental health, McMinn 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 McMinn County show so little SBA activity?
McMinn County shows 0 approvals in the SBA healthcare file, which means an appraiser reaches outside the county for comparables. Few sales, not weak credit, is the usual reason. 51 lending establishments operate locally.
04How does the hospital in Athens affect a practice file?
A Medicare-certified hospital operates in the town, which gives referral flow, a call schedule, and a clinical labor pool a funder can verify. 3 Medicare-certified providers are located here in total. It also sets the wage floor behind every hire in a 160.1 per 10,000 market.
05What does a $53,151 median income mean for case acceptance?
Median household income in Athens runs $53,151. 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.
06Which fields carry the volume in Athens?
Physical, occupational, and speech therapy at 88 providers and primary care and family medicine at 26 lead the 26 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
- 4CMS Care Compare provider datasets
- 5U.S. Small Business Administration, 7(a) and 504 approvals
- 6U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2022
Our team reviews every request within 1 business day. If a funding partner thinks they can help, a specialist from that partner contacts you to discuss next steps.