Why therapy practices get stuck on capacity

A healthcare practice with a waitlist has already proven demand. What it has not necessarily solved is the cost of meeting that demand, and the order in which those costs arrive.

Adding capacity at a therapy center means hiring clinicians, equipping rooms, and often taking on more space — and all of it is paid for before the additional sessions are delivered, let alone reimbursed. Practices billing through insurance wait longer still, because the revenue from a new hire’s caseload arrives well after that hire’s first paycheck. The practice is growing and cash-poor at the same moment, which is a pattern underwriters who work with healthcare businesses recognize immediately.

The alternative is to grow at the speed of retained earnings — hiring one clinician at a time, as each previous addition pays for itself. That works. It is just much slower than the waitlist.

What we did

RAN Funding is a broker, not a lender. The center completed one application and provided the last four months of business bank statements, and that single file went out across our lender network. A funding specialist walked the owner through each offer that came back before anything was signed.

The placement closed at $75,000 in working capital, directed at four things: hiring additional therapists, adding therapy materials and sensory tools, opening new therapy rooms, and increasing the number of children and families the center could support. It was structured as short-term working capital and funded in 24 hours.

Twenty-four hours matters more for a practice than the headline suggests. Clinical hiring runs on the candidate’s timeline, not the practice’s — a qualified therapist with an offer in hand does not wait weeks while financing is arranged. Being able to move on a hire the week you find them is often the whole difference.

Funding at $75,000 works the same way as funding at $500,000

It is worth saying plainly, because owners of smaller practices often assume this kind of funding is not for them: the process at $75,000 is identical to the process at the top of the range. One application. Four months of business bank statements. Offers from a network of lenders, explained before signing.

RAN Funding places business funding from $20,000 to $500,000+. The lower end of that range is not an afterthought — it is where a large share of practices, shops and service businesses actually sit, and a $75,000 placement that lets a center hire two clinicians can matter more to that business than a seven-figure facility would to a larger one.

If you want to size the question first, the how much can I qualify for page and the funding calculators are the place to start.

What healthcare practices should know before applying

• Deposits are what get read. Underwriting is built on the last four months of business bank statements. Practices billing through insurance sometimes have lumpy deposit patterns — that is normal and readable, but it helps to be able to explain the rhythm.
• Business accounts only. Personal bank statements do not count, which catches out practices that have not fully separated their banking.
• Time in business matters more than practice size. One year or more is the general starting point.
• The use of funds does not need to be a single line item. Staffing, equipment and space can all come out of the same working capital placement.

See also working capital loan requirements and funding for veterinary practices, which runs on a similar practice-capacity model.

Frequently asked questions