Ravenmoor Finance, a small-business funding broker in Ocala, Florida, explains financing for medical and dental practices: equipment financing for imaging, dental chairs and other devices, term loans for clinic build-outs and new locations, and working capital or lines of credit for the gap before insurance pays. The page uses Marion County's Census health care figures. Partners decide.
| Outpatient care employers in the county | 795 (CBP 2023) |
|---|---|
| Physicians' offices | 291 |
| Dentists' offices | 109 |
| Paid employees, ambulatory care | 8,610 |
| Under five employees | 377, or 47.4% |
| Usual structures | Equipment, term loan, credit line |
Marion County, FL health care in Census figures
Health care and social assistance carried the largest annual payroll of any sector in Marion County in 2023, about $1.06 billion (U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023). Within it, ambulatory health care, the offices and clinics that treat patients without admitting them, counted 795 employer establishments with 8,610 paid employees and about $584.4 million in payroll.
Those included 291 physicians' offices and 109 dentists' offices. Many are small: 47.4% of ambulatory care employers, and 40.4% of dental offices, had fewer than five employees. A separate program counted 2,156 ambulatory care businesses with no paid employees in 2024, 58 of them dentists' offices (Nonemployer Statistics 2024).
Where practices sit in the region's ZIP figures
Health care leads the employer count in two ZIPs covered on this site. ZIP 34471, which includes 65 SW 2nd Ave, counted 378 health care and social assistance employer establishments in 2023; ZIP 32162 in The Villages, FL counted 96, and only a quarter of those had fewer than five employees (Census ZIP Code Business Patterns 2023). ZIP 34432 around Dunnellon, FL, where retail leads, counted 35. ZIP figures describe the ZIP, not a town's limits.
Larger practices tend to ask about build-outs and second locations; smaller ones more often about a single piece of equipment or the gap before insurance pays.
Healthcare equipment financing
Medical device financing and healthcare equipment financing cover imaging units, exam tables, lab and sterilization equipment, dental chairs and operatory packages, practice software and the computers that run it. Because the equipment secures the deal, equipment financing is usually the first structure partners consider. Chiropractic equipment financing, for adjusting tables, decompression units and therapy devices, follows the same pattern.
Technology-heavy equipment can age quickly. A lease with a defined end-of-term option can make sense where you expect to upgrade within a few years; a loan or equipment finance agreement suits equipment you will use to the end of its life.
Funding a dental office or clinic
Dental office financing and dental clinic financing usually combine three pieces: a build-out of leased space, the operatory equipment, and the working capital to carry the practice until it reaches steady production. Medical clinic financing looks similar. Partners often prefer to finance the equipment separately, secured by the equipment, and fund the build-out with a term loan.
For a dentist planning a second location, our post on opening a second dental office in Ocala, FL sets out the sequence and the questions partners ask.
Sequencing a large equipment purchase
- Get a written quote that separates equipment, installation, software and training.
- Ask the vendor whether installation can be financed with the equipment.
- Check whether the room or suite needs construction work first, and price it separately.
- Decide between a lease and a purchase based on how long you expect to keep the equipment.
- Compare offers on the total paid over the term, not only the monthly figure.
Following that order avoids the most common surprise: an approved equipment amount that does not cover the real cost of getting the room working.
Covering the wait for insurance payments
A practice treats a patient today and may wait weeks for the insurer to pay. When payroll and supply bills land in between, a short working capital loan or a line of credit fills the gap. Partners look at the practice's collection history and the mix of payers, because a steady pattern of payments is what makes the gap predictable.
Licensing and professional records
Partners commonly ask for evidence that the practitioners and the practice are in good standing. Have current professional licenses and the practice's entity records ready.
Questions a practice can answer before the first call
- Roughly how long do insurance payments take to arrive after a visit?
- What share of collections comes from insurers, and what share from patients directly?
- Is the need a single device, a full room, or a whole new site?
- Are any current equipment leases close to their end date?
These answers tell us whether a practice is looking at equipment financing, a term loan, a credit line or some combination.
The practice file partners ask for
- Practice bank statements and recent tax returns
- Production and collections reports
- Payer mix and an aging of insurance receivables
- Equipment quotes and installation costs
- The lease or the build-out budget
- Professional licenses and entity records
For county-wide context, see the Ocala, FL page, and the industries hub for the other sectors partners fund.
By Ravenmoor Finance · Updated