Which Medical Practice Loan is Right For You?

Choosing the right medical practice loan can be intimidating. Between traditional lending options like the SBA and banks and newer alternative lenders like Greenbox Capital®, it can be difficult to understand the differences between each type of funding, and even harder to determine what kind of medical practice loan best suits your needs.

Every medical practice has a different financial history and faces a unique set of challenges and goals. These factors can impact what funding you qualify for, as well as what kind of funding is the most ideal for your purposes. Keep reading for our advice on what kind of medical practice funding suits you best, including:

• If you need fast funding
• If you need a large loan amount over $500,000
• If you have a strong financial history and great credit
• If you have low credit or no collateral
• If you are a newer practice
• If you need working capital
• If you are investing in real estate or purchasing an existing practice
• If you are purchasing equipment

Let’s jump in.

Medical practices can use additional funding for a number of purposes, including:

1. Purchasing inventory: Medical supplies are expensive but essential, and maintaining inventory can be tough if cash flow is limited because of slow insurance payments or difficulty collecting payments from clients. Working capital funding like a merchant cash advance, invoice factoring, or a business line of credit can provide the capital you need to purchase medical inventory.
2. Purchasing or repairing equipment: Medical equipment can be prohibitively expensive to purchase and repair, and medical practices may need funding to help support these purchases or cover unexpected expenses. Equipment financing from traditional lenders or other alternative funding products like merchant cash advances are ideal for purchasing or repairing equipment.
3. Upgrading technology: Digitizing medical records can boost efficiency by improving billing, streamlining patient communication, and making it easier to share information with other physicians. However, upgrading technology requires an upfront investment in new software that can strain your practice’s cash flow. Working capital funding can supply the funding you need to keep providing top-notch care while your team adjusts to the new technology.
4. Collections: Slow-paying insurance companies, delays in getting Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, or non-paying clients can all create cash flow concerns for medical practices. Invoice factoring and other forms of working capital funding can help bridge the gap between payments.
5. Insurance: Medical practices have unique insurance needs, such as malpractice insurance and worker’s compensation for illness. This can make insurance especially expensive for medical businesses.
6. Investing in real estate: Purchasing your office space can lower your monthly expenses and expand your assets. You may also want to invest in real estate to grow your practice to a new location or renovate your existing office to create a more comfortable environment for patients. Traditional and alternative lenders offer funding options that will enable you to invest in real estate.
7. Acquiring another practice: Purchasing an existing practice from a retiring physician is a good alternative to starting your own. It may also be an easier way to expand your practice by enabling you to serve new territories, offer new services, or acquire new patients without other investment in marketing. Traditional lenders offer practice acquisition loans designed specifically for this purpose. Alternative lenders also offer funding options that can help you acquire another practice.
8. Hiring staff: Adding additional doctors, nurses, and support staff will enable you to take on more patients without compromising quality of care. However, finding talented clinical staff can be difficult for smaller practices who may not have the budget to compete with the pay and benefits for larger organizations. Alternative funding like a merchant cash advance or a business line of credit can supply the funding you need when you need it to support your team’s growth.
9. Marketing: Advertising your practice, creating or updating a website, or using direct mail to reach can help you reach new patients, whether you’re opening a new practice, expanding to a new one, are concentrating on growing your patient roster, or have hired new staff and can take on new patients or are offering new or expanded services. Merchant cash advances and other alternative funding products are ideal for boosting marketing and growing your medical practice.
10. Patient services: Offer the most up to date and sought-after patient services to keep your practice competitive, such as online booking, online paperwork, real-time wait times, quick responses to inquiries, free wifi, or extended hours. Traditional and alternative lenders offer funding options that can help you improve your patient services and continue to grow your medical practice.

Traditional lenders like the SBA and banks offer the lowest rates and longest terms, but they have the most restrictive approval requirements and most applicants are rejected. Alternative lenders, on the other hand, can approve more medical practice loans than traditional lenders. They can also approve medical practice loans faster, with funds deposited in as little as 24 hours. Multiple types of physician funding are available from alternative lenders, including merchant cash advances, online invoice factoring, alternative business credit, collateral business loans, and term loans, with funding from as low $3,000 up to $500,000.

Greenbox Capital® funds all medical specialties. Our expert Funding Advisors will work closely with you to determine which funding option will help you achieve your goals without compromising your practice’s cash flow.