Medical and dental
Funding for practices whose receivables arrive late
Patients keep coming, but the money does not always arrive with them. Insurers and direct-billing plans pay after the visit, while staff, rent and supplies are paid on time. An advance can fund equipment or a fit-out. It may be repaid every day, so the receivables that lag are the part to understand first.
merchant cash advance for medical and dental
Approval is never guaranteed. A funding partner makes the final decision.
What owners use funding for
- Diagnostic or imaging equipment, such as a digital X-ray unit
- A treatment chair or an additional operatory
- A fit-out or renovation of new or expanded space
- Sterilization equipment, or practice-management software and hardware upgrades
- The first months of an associate's costs, before their patient list builds
How money moves
Patient volume is steady, which many businesses would envy. The cash behind it is split. Part is paid at the visit by card or e-transfer. The rest is billed to an insurer or a plan and arrives later, often in batches.Much of the income arrives from insurers weeks later, so test a fixed payment against deposits, not billings. How a merchant cash advance works
Does an advance fit?
It may fit when
- A meaningful share of income is collected at the visit by card or e-transfer
- The equipment adds capacity or services you can bill, and you have estimated how much
- You have mapped when insurer and plan payments arrive, and the daily payment fits between them
- The purchase has a date attached, such as an installation, and other financing cannot be arranged in time
It may not fit when
- Most income is insurer or plan payments that arrive in batches
- A bank or equipment financing could cover the purchase and you have time to arrange it
- The money is for buying into a practice or a partner buy-out, where other financing may be designed for it
- You have not yet checked what your regulator or professional body expects of you before signing
A worked example
Imaging equipment and a second treatment room
A small dental practice buys imaging equipment and fits out a second treatment room. The advance is repaid with a fixed daily payment. The slow day below counts only what is deposited that day: patient payments at the visit, with insurer payments arriving on their own schedule. Billings are not deposits.
That is a large share of a slow day. If slow days like this run for weeks, the payment is the part of this example to plan around.
A full schedule can still produce a modest deposit if most patients are billed to an insurer or plan, and the payment comes out of the deposit. Ask us to check the payment against a lean week of deposits, not an average week of billings.
The factor rate and term are assumptions for the example, not a price for this kind of business. It assumes a fixed daily payment and no funding partner fee. A real offer may include fees. Illustrative only. Real offers, fees and payment terms vary by funding partner.
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General information only, not financial or legal advice. Approval is never guaranteed. A funding partner makes the final decision. Terms and eligibility vary by funding partner.
Know the cost. Then grow.
Tell us about your business in about two minutes. We will tell you whether an advance looks like a fit, and show the cost in dollars before you decide.
Approval is never guaranteed. A funding partner makes the final decision.