Washington micro-market
Healthcare practice financing in Ferndale, Washington
Direct answer
Density decides a lot here. Ferndale runs 67.0 providers per 10,000 residents, 112 clinicians against 16,706 people, 27 percent of them in physical, occupational, and speech therapy, while Whatcom County lenders have approved 10 healthcare files worth $4,059,700 and the nearest metro is 9 miles out.
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- Population: 16,706 residents (10K-25K band)1
- Healthcare providers registered here: 112 across 18 fields2
- Median household income: $83,8393
- Largest provider field: Physical, occupational, and speech therapy: 30 registered providers2
- Medicare-certified providers in town: 1 across 1 categories4
- Nearest metro: Bellingham, WA, 9 miles1
The provider census in Ferndale
67.0 providers per 10,000 residents is what 112 enumerations across 18 fields works out to in a town of 16,706
| Specialty | Enumerated clinicians | Density per 10,000 | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Physical, occupational, and speech therapy | 30 | 18.0 | NPPES [2] |
| Primary care and family medicine | 18 | 10.8 | NPPES [2] |
| Chiropractic | 14 | 8.4 | NPPES [2] |
| Optometry and ophthalmology | 11 | 6.6 | NPPES [2] |
| General dentistry | 7 | 4.2 | NPPES [2] |
| Independent pharmacy | 6 | 3.6 | NPPES [2] |
| Behavioral and mental health group practices | 5 | 3.0 | NPPES [2] |
| DME and HME suppliers | 4 | 2.4 | NPPES [2] |
| Dental specialties | 3 | 1.8 | NPPES [2] |
| NEMT and ambulance | 3 | 1.8 | NPPES [2] |
| ABA and autism therapy | 3 | 1.8 | NPPES [2] |
| Clinical and toxicology labs | 2 | 1.2 | NPPES [2] |
| SUD treatment and residential | 1 | 0.6 | NPPES [2] |
| Non-medical home care | 1 | 0.6 | NPPES [2] |
| Specialty physician groups | 1 | 0.6 | NPPES [2] |
| Dialysis and infusion centers | 1 | 0.6 | NPPES [2] |
| Occupational health and drug testing | 1 | 0.6 | NPPES [2] |
| Skilled nursing, assisted living, and memory care | 1 | 0.6 | NPPES [2] |
| Medical equipment suppliers | 7 | CMS [4] | |
| Dialysis facilities | 1 | CMS [4] |
A single Ferndale practice can hold more than one of these numbers. 27 percent sit in physical, occupational, and speech therapy, counted as clinicians rather than as owners.
Whatcom County approvals, dollars, and lending establishments
10 healthcare approvals averaging $405,970 set the deal shape lenders in Whatcom County have already underwritten
| Line | Amount | Reading and source |
|---|---|---|
| SBA healthcare approvals | 10 | One published fiscal year, healthcare borrowers only [5] |
| Approved dollars | $4,059,700 | Approved, not disbursed, and not net of withdrawals [5] |
| Average approval | $405,970 | A mean, so one large approval moves it [5] |
| Lending establishments in the county | 114 | Credit intermediation offices sited in the county [6] |
How this data lands in an underwriting decision
Underwriting starts with 67.0 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. Household income of $83,839 in Ferndale is the number a lender uses to sanity check the self-pay share of a revenue projection.
Programs the Ferndale mix reaches for
- Practice acquisition
- Startup and de novo
- Working capital term loan
- Expansion, relocation, and build-out
- Equipment financing and leasing
Built from what is enumerated here rather than from a national list, so a field with no presence in Ferndale does not appear. Availability is still a Washington question.
What a funder reads first in Ferndale
What a funder opens first depends on the field. In Ferndale that means physical, occupational, and speech therapy, primary care and family medicine, chiropractic.
| Field | What the file turns on | The capital event behind most requests |
|---|---|---|
| Physical, occupational, and speech therapy (30) | Visits per case, Referral source concentration, Payer mix and authorization rules | Startup or expansion clinic |
| Primary care and family medicine (18) | Panel size, Value-based contract exposure, Provider productivity | Acquisition |
| Chiropractic (14) | Cash plan revenue, Personal injury receivable age, Visit volume | Startup or acquisition |
Counts in the first column are Ferndale providers from NPPES. The other two columns describe how funders read that field across markets like Ferndale, not what any funder will do with your file.
Ferndale against nearby Washington markets
The neighboring markets below are the ones a valuation borrows from when Ferndale has too few sales of its own
| Town | Residents | Providers | Per 10,000 | Miles away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ferndale (current) | 16,706 | 112 | 67.0 | |
| Bellingham | 95,860 | 1,714 | 178.8 | 9 |
| Lynden | 16,783 | 102 | 60.8 | 9 |
| Anacortes | 18,148 | 224 | 123.4 | 25 |
| Burlington | 10,945 | 143 | 130.7 | 29 |
| Mount Vernon | 35,344 | 587 | 166.1 | 33 |
| Oak Harbor | 24,163 | 480 | 198.7 | 39 |
How Ferndale sits against the nearest metro
Distance to Bellingham, WA is 9 miles. Appraisers borrow Bellingham, WA rents, and the 16,706 residents set the ceiling on collections. Median household income runs $83,839, which is the number a funder converts into case acceptance on anything elective or cash-pay. Referral flow comes from outside Ferndale, which a projection needs to state plainly.
More of Washington
- Bellingham 95,860 residents
- Lynden 16,783 residents
- Anacortes 18,148 residents
- Burlington 10,945 residents
- Mount Vernon 35,344 residents
- Oak Harbor 24,163 residents
Questions from Ferndale
01How many providers practice in Ferndale, and in what?
112 enumerations sit at Ferndale addresses in the monthly NPPES file, working out to 67.0 for every 10,000 residents. 27 percent of them are physical, occupational, and speech therapy, and primary care and family medicine follows with 18. An enumeration is a clinician, so the 112 here cover fewer than 112 practices.
02Is Ferndale underwritten as part of Bellingham, WA?
Comparables and demand split at 9 miles. An appraiser prices the lease and the equipment off Bellingham, WA; the revenue line has to hold up against 16,706 local residents.
03What does SBA lending look like around Ferndale?
Healthcare borrowers in Whatcom County took 10 approvals worth $4,059,700 in the published fiscal year, averaging $405,970. That is the comparable set an appraiser near Ferndale reaches for first.
04What does Whatcom County's shortage designation change?
Designated for primary care, dental, mental health, Whatcom 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.
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 Ferndale rents and resale before or by somebody working from a screen.
06Which fields carry the volume in Ferndale?
Physical, occupational, and speech therapy at 30 providers and primary care and family medicine at 18 lead the 18 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
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