Washington micro-market
Healthcare practice financing in Bellingham, Washington
Direct answer
Whatcom County carries 10 SBA healthcare approvals worth $4,059,700, and inside Bellingham the census shows 1,714 enumerated clinicians against 95,860 residents, 178.8 per 10,000, 21 percent of them in physical, occupational, and speech therapy. Bellingham, WA lies 0 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 Washington, and how many partners see it, is set out on the Washington page.
- Population: 95,860 residents (50K-100K band)1
- Healthcare providers registered here: 1,714 across 35 fields2
- Median household income: $65,8213
- Largest provider field: Physical, occupational, and speech therapy: 357 registered providers2
- Medicare-certified providers in town: 18 across 4 categories4
- Nearest metro: Bellingham, WA, 0 miles1
The clinical base a lender can verify here
The NPPES file puts 1,714 enumerated clinicians inside Bellingham, spread over 35 fields at 178.8 per 10,000 residents
| Specialty | Enumerated clinicians | Density per 10,000 | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Physical, occupational, and speech therapy | 357 | 37.2 | NPPES [2] |
| Behavioral and mental health group practices | 230 | 24.0 | NPPES [2] |
| Primary care and family medicine | 201 | 21.0 | NPPES [2] |
| Chiropractic | 149 | 15.5 | NPPES [2] |
| Specialty physician groups | 130 | 13.6 | NPPES [2] |
| ABA and autism therapy | 116 | 12.1 | NPPES [2] |
| General dentistry | 99 | 10.3 | NPPES [2] |
| Optometry and ophthalmology | 88 | 9.2 | NPPES [2] |
| Dental specialties | 46 | 4.8 | NPPES [2] |
| Ketamine, TMS, and interventional psychiatry | 39 | 4.1 | NPPES [2] |
| DME and HME suppliers | 35 | 3.7 | NPPES [2] |
| Independent pharmacy | 32 | 3.3 | NPPES [2] |
| Skilled nursing, assisted living, and memory care | 28 | 2.9 | NPPES [2] |
| ASCs and OBLs | 22 | 2.3 | NPPES [2] |
| Dermatology | 20 | 2.1 | NPPES [2] |
| Audiology and hearing centers | 17 | 1.8 | NPPES [2] |
| SUD treatment and residential | 15 | 1.6 | NPPES [2] |
| Home health | 13 | 1.4 | NPPES [2] |
| Clinical and toxicology labs | 12 | 1.3 | NPPES [2] |
| Med spa and aesthetics | 10 | 1.0 | NPPES [2] |
| Telehealth and virtual clinics | 9 | 0.9 | NPPES [2] |
| Non-medical home care | 8 | 0.8 | NPPES [2] |
| Hormone, TRT, and men's health clinics | 7 | 0.7 | NPPES [2] |
| NEMT and ambulance | 6 | 0.6 | NPPES [2] |
| Podiatry | 4 | 0.4 | NPPES [2] |
| Pain management and interventional | 4 | 0.4 | NPPES [2] |
| Dialysis and infusion centers | 4 | 0.4 | NPPES [2] |
| Occupational health and drug testing | 4 | 0.4 | NPPES [2] |
| Hospice and palliative | 3 | 0.3 | NPPES [2] |
| Urgent care | 1 | 0.1 | NPPES [2] |
| Sleep centers | 1 | 0.1 | NPPES [2] |
| Imaging centers | 1 | 0.1 | NPPES [2] |
| Fertility and IVF | 1 | 0.1 | NPPES [2] |
| Mobile diagnostics | 1 | 0.1 | NPPES [2] |
| Clinical research sites | 1 | 0.1 | NPPES [2] |
| Medical equipment suppliers | 31 | CMS [4] | |
| Ambulatory surgical centers | 12 | CMS [4] | |
| Home health agencies | 3 | CMS [4] | |
| Hospice providers | 2 | CMS [4] | |
| Dialysis facilities | 1 | CMS [4] |
Physical, occupational, and speech therapy carries 357 of the 1,714 enumerated providers here, and several of them can sit inside one practice. Read the column as clinicians, not owners.
What Whatcom County credit files already show
10 healthcare approvals averaging $405,970 set the deal shape lenders in Whatcom County have already underwritten
| What it measures | Value | How to read it |
|---|---|---|
| Approvals on record | 10 | One published fiscal year, healthcare borrowers only [5] |
| Total approved capital | $4,059,700 | Approved, not disbursed, and not net of withdrawals [5] |
| Mean deal size | $405,970 | A mean, so one large approval moves it [5] |
| Lenders sited in the county | 114 | Credit intermediation offices sited in the county [6] |
How this data lands in an underwriting decision
Underwriting starts with 178.8 providers per 10,000 residents, because that ratio caps how fast a chair or a room fills. Because Whatcom County already carries $4,059,700 across 10 healthcare approvals, a request near that average moves faster than one well above it. With $65,821 as the median household income, the payer mix in a projection has to match what Bellingham households actually spend.
Where a file from this town usually lands
- Practice acquisition
- Working capital term loan
- Startup and de novo
- Expansion, relocation, and build-out
- Equipment financing and leasing
The 35 fields practicing locally set this order. A funding partner, not this list, decides what is available in Washington.
What a funder reads first in Bellingham
physical, occupational, and speech therapy, behavioral and mental health group practices, primary care and family medicine account for most of what is enumerated in Bellingham, so those are the files funders see from this town
| Field | What the file turns on | The capital event behind most requests |
|---|---|---|
| Physical, occupational, and speech therapy (357) | Visits per case, Referral source concentration, Payer mix and authorization rules | Startup or expansion clinic |
| Behavioral and mental health group practices (230) | Clinician retention and productivity, Payer mix and Medicaid concentration, Re-authorization and session limit exposure | Working capital through the credentialing lag |
| Primary care and family medicine (201) | Panel size, Value-based contract exposure, Provider productivity | Acquisition |
Counts in the first column are Bellingham providers from NPPES. The other two columns describe how funders read that field across markets like Bellingham, not what any funder will do with your file.
How Bellingham prices against its neighbors
Set Bellingham's 178.8 per 10,000 against the towns an appraiser would reach for next
| Comparable | People | Enumerations | Per 10,000 residents | Miles |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bellingham (current) | 95,860 | 1,714 | 178.8 | |
| Ferndale | 16,706 | 112 | 67.0 | 9 |
| Lynden | 16,783 | 102 | 60.8 | 14 |
| Anacortes | 18,148 | 224 | 123.4 | 20 |
| Burlington | 10,945 | 143 | 130.7 | 21 |
| Mount Vernon | 35,344 | 587 | 166.1 | 24 |
| Oak Harbor | 24,163 | 480 | 198.7 | 33 |
What the geography does to a Bellingham projection
0 miles separate Bellingham from Bellingham, WA. Lease pricing follows Bellingham, WA, while revenue stays capped by the 95,860 residents here. At $65,821 median household income, the elective and cash-pay share of a projection is the line that gets tested first. Because a certified hospital sits inside the town, both the referral path and the pay a clinical hire expects are already observable. Campus terms, not calendar quarters, set the busy months in Bellingham. Bellingham is the Whatcom County seat, so county employment steadies the payer mix.
More of Washington
- Ferndale 16,706 residents
- Lynden 16,783 residents
- Anacortes 18,148 residents
- Burlington 10,945 residents
- Mount Vernon 35,344 residents
- Oak Harbor 24,163 residents
What owners in Bellingham ask
01How many providers practice in Bellingham, and in what?
NPPES lists 1,714 providers at a Bellingham practice address, 178.8 per 10,000 residents across 35 tracked fields. Physical, occupational, and speech therapy accounts for 357 of them, 21 percent of the total, with behavioral and mental health group practices next at 230. Read that as clinicians: 1,714 enumerations, not 1,714 owners.
02Which fields carry the volume in Bellingham?
Physical, occupational, and speech therapy at 357 providers and behavioral and mental health group practices at 230 lead the 35 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.
03What does Whatcom County's shortage designation change?
Whatcom County holds a HRSA designation covering primary care, dental, mental health. A pro forma for Bellingham can cite it as the reason a vacancy is fillable, which is usually the weakest line in a ramp schedule.
04How does the hospital in Bellingham affect a practice file?
It makes the staffing and referral lines checkable. 18 Medicare-certified providers hold Bellingham addresses, and the hospital sets the wage a clinical hire is bid against in a 178.8 per 10,000 market.
05Is there local lending capacity in Whatcom County?
County Business Patterns records 114 credit intermediation establishments in Whatcom County. That is the local origination bench, and it decides whether a file gets underwritten by somebody who has seen Bellingham rents and resale before or by somebody working from a screen.
06Is Bellingham underwritten as part of Bellingham, WA?
Partly. Bellingham, WA is 0 miles out, so rent and equipment comparables travel in from there while patients still come from the 95,860 residents around Bellingham. Cost side metro, revenue side local.
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
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