How should a physical therapy clinic prepare its financing request?
Illustrative case · Small outpatient physical therapy practice; two licensed PTs; retained leased medical suite; no home care · California, United States; no city or site selected
Explore this business · Financing options
Build the request from installed opening uses and the payer collection cycle. The case has $260,000 of uses, $100,000 of owner funds and $160,000 of assumed debt, but that structure leaves $11,352 of uncovered base cash needs. A lender-ready version must price the premises/equipment and resolve the gap; historical SBA lending does not do that work.
Observed SBA industry evidence
Lending activity in the broader category
NAICS 621340 includes offices of physical, occupational and speech therapists and audiologists. It does not isolate a two-therapist outpatient physical therapy practice, California, retained medical premises, self-pay visits or any exact operating format.
These are positive-amount loan records selected by approval fiscal year and PIF, CHGOFF or EXEMPT status at the stated snapshot. They are not unique firms, search volumes, approval probabilities or loans disbursed during that year.
Read this industry’s amounts, terms, lenders and outcomes.
Source: SBA 7(a) and 504 FOIA files, snapshot 30 June 2026. Recomputed from original records on 1 October 2026. FY2025 is the most recent complete fiscal year in these files. Definitions and exclusions.
Match the funding purpose to the practice scope
An opening clinic in leased retained premises needs both long-lived equipment/alterations and cash for wages while claims collect. The official 7(a) program can support eligible working capital and equipment purposes, subject to lender underwriting. The case assumes a loan at 10.5% over 120 months, yielding $2,159 per month. These are model terms, not a current offer or a claimed mandatory equity percentage. Official 7(a) route
| Scope | Uses to document | Relevant route to discuss | Why this case cannot supply the missing amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retained outpatient suite | Equipment, alterations and ramp/collection cash | Owner funds plus a lender term/working-capital proposal | Model allowances need installed bids and actual contracts |
| Owned property or major fixed-asset project | Property, construction and qualifying long-term assets | Commercial/504 project with a CDC and senior lender | Real estate cost, owner occupancy and project structure are outside this model |
504 financing concerns qualifying major fixed assets and does not fund working capital or inventory. A loan for a property project cannot be treated as the same thing as an available opening-payroll reserve. Equipment finance can cover selected assets, but it does not automatically finance receivables. Ask each lender to identify which uses are eligible and what cash must come from another source. Official 504 boundary
Prepare evidence that connects clinicians, contracts and cash
Submit an itemized sources/uses bridge, measured site proposal, contractor/equipment bids, license and ownership documentation, projected staffing, payer enrollment status and expected collection terms. Include personal/business records requested by the actual lender, ownership resumes supplied by the applicant and evidence for the demand assumption. No founder experience or borrower history is invented in this case.
The model owner contribution is 38.5% of opening uses. That ratio describes this scenario only. The base shortfall can be covered mechanically by additional equity of $11,352, bringing modeled equity to $111,352 with debt unchanged, but a zero trough leaves no buffer. More borrowing instead changes the payment and cash path and must be rerun. The lower case continues to lose money and should trigger operating-scope review.
Use the existing loan document checklist to track received versus reviewed documents. Keep patient-identifiable material out of public examples; use aggregate scheduling and de-identified remittance evidence for planning. The public site offers educational content and a coming-soon planning package, not document upload or a loan application.
Close the launch gates in an evidence register
Confirm California licenses and the actual professional entity/ownership structure. Inspect accessible care and permitted use with the appropriate local professionals. Track Medicare and commercial enrollment/credentialing effective dates independently of the expected opening date; no unverified pending enrollment is forecast as guaranteed covered revenue. Direct-access rules do not require insurer payment. Board guidance; State access law; CMS framework
Replace the assumed commercial and Medicare visit totals with code/locality/contract calculations and collection observations. Confirm how patient balances, noncovered services and required self-pay estimates are handled. Secure the site and staffing before treating the fully filled schedule as an available repayment source. A lender may request different documents and cash coverage definitions; use its written requirements.
Read the verified loan cohorts without narrowing their scope
The broad NAICS 621340 pool contains 1,112 disbursed-status loan records across approval FY2023–FY2025, comprising 991 7(a) and 121 504 records. FY2025’s 396 records exceed FY2023’s 325 by 21.8%. The increase is a descriptive cohort comparison, not evidence of clinic demand, safe leverage or application success.
Read the dedicated SBA industry profile for the broader category’s defined samples and downloadable aggregates. Consult the existing SBA explorer for shared definitions. Loan amounts are recorded loans; 504 amounts are only the SBA/CDC portion. They do not price a complete launch or imply that a similar applicant can obtain the same terms. Verified snapshot
Make the weak points reviewable
The main risks are unpriced site work, recruitment and owner absence, payer credentialing or reimbursement mismatch, lost appointment slots, slow collection and a thin mature surplus. Base cash first becomes negative in month 9. The forecast reports unfunded obligations instead of assuming an overdraft; later receipt recovery does not retroactively pay earlier wages.
Attach the three 60-month ledgers, annual statements and assumption dossier to the planning brief. Explain what changes would cause the lower case and which commitments can be staged before that point. Preserve paid owner work and income-tax exclusions when comparing debt coverage. The full business-plan example awaits owner generation and later verified import; no returned narrative is represented here.
Sources and scope
- Case assumptions and existing planning-case methodology · Checked 2026-10-05 · Author-selected outpatient case. No signed lease, patient referrals, insurer contract or project quotation. All case rates, mix, demand and timing remain assumptions.
- Physical therapists — Occupational Outlook Handbook · Checked 2026-10-05 · May 2025 national median annual employee wage, USD 102760; page modified August 27, 2026. Excludes self-employed pay; does not establish California hiring or owner compensation.
- Physical Therapy Board of California — practice laws and consumer FAQ · Checked 2026-10-05 · California PT/PTA/aide roles and license verification. This case employs two licensed PTs and no assistants/aides; no practitioner credential or site approval has been received.
- California Business and Professions Code 2620.1 · Checked 2026-10-05 · California direct-access treatment; effective January 1, 2023 amendment displayed. Selected adult outpatient treatment excludes the wellness and education-plan exceptions.
- CMS Therapy Services — CY2026 updates · Checked 2026-10-05 · Outpatient therapy coding/payment framework; current page discusses 2026 updates, KX and MPPR. No locality/CPT/modifier fee calculation performed; modeled Medicare visit receipts are assumptions.
- CMS medical bill rights when not using insurance · Checked 2026-10-05 · Uninsured/self-pay good-faith estimate information. Does not authorize private contracts for otherwise covered Medicare services.
- Access to medical care for people with mobility disabilities · Checked 2026-10-05 · Federal medical-facility accessibility guidance, updated June 26, 2020. Supports a survey of usable access, transfer equipment and space, not a construction budget or site certification.
- Rehabmart Armedica AM-300 treatment table listing · Checked 2026-10-05 · Observed October 5, 2026: ARM-AM-300 / MPN AM-300, base table 2592.74 USD, forest-green option ARM-3 displayed 0 additional charge. No optional upgrades/coupon. Listed price is not a delivered/installed clinic quote.
- Publication 15 (2026) — employer tax guide · Checked 2026-10-05 · 2026 federal payroll tax components. The case 15 percent all-in burden includes other assumed costs and is not a statutory combined tax rate.
- SBA 7(a) loans · Checked 2026-10-05 · Program purposes and application through lenders. The model loan is illustrative; no approved terms, equity rule or applicant approval probability is asserted.
- SBA 504 loans · Checked 2026-10-05 · Long-term major fixed assets and CDC route; not working capital/inventory. Separate from illustrative ten-year general term loan.
- SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA data — verified June 2026 snapshot · Checked 2026-10-05 · Existing hash-verified aggregates, cutoff June 30, 2026. Approval FY2023–FY2025, NAICS 621340, PIF/CHGOFF/EXEMPT statuses. Whole therapy/audiology industry; no borrower rows copied.
- Census NAICS 621340 industry description · Checked 2026-10-05 · 2022 NAICS broad offices of physical, occupational and speech therapists and audiologists. The narrow model is outpatient physical therapy only.