Healthcare Business Loans
Funding that bridges your reimbursement delays and pays for what your patients need, from one application.
Built for practices that get paid on the payer clock, not on the calendar.
Business loans for medical and dental practices
You deliver care today and wait 30, 60, or 90 days for insurance, Medicare, and Medicaid to pay, while payroll, supplies, and equipment leases don't wait. FundBetter closes that gap so a slow payer never dictates what your practice can do next.
From covering payroll between reimbursements to financing a new dental chair or opening a second location, one application connects your practice with capital and one of our funding advisors who understands healthcare cash flow.
Why medical practices need working capital
Waiting on reimbursements
Keep cash flowing when payment lands weeks after the encounter and any claim that comes back for rework restarts the wait.
Equipment that gets outdated
Finance new imaging systems, dental chairs, and lab tools without a large cash outlay, and keep patients walking through the door.
Growing the practice
Get the capital to add providers, operatories, or a second location well before the new revenue follows.
How practice cash flow works
Your practice earns revenue the moment care is delivered, but it collects that revenue much later. The visit happens, the encounter is coded, the claim goes out, and then the payer takes its time. Commercial plans commonly pay in 30 to 45 days. Medicaid often runs longer. That delay says nothing about how well your practice is run.
The gap widens every time a claim comes back. A coding mismatch, a missing prior authorization, or an eligibility problem sends the claim into a rework queue. Staff correct it and resubmit, and the clock starts over. A claim that should have paid in 35 days can take 90 or more once it has been through a denial and a resubmission. Patient responsibility balances stretch the tail further still, because those arrive in small amounts over months.
The result is a practice that's profitable on paper and thin in the bank account, which is exactly what working capital is built to fix. Your days in accounts receivable can sit at 40, 50, or 60 while payroll runs every two weeks and supply orders are due on delivery. Growth makes the squeeze worse rather than better. Every new patient you take on is an expense you pay now and a payment you receive next quarter.
Payer mix decides how sharp the pressure gets. A practice weighted toward commercial plans turns receivables faster than one weighted toward government payers, and a large self-pay share puts the collection risk on you. Solo private practices feel it hardest, because one slow payer or one credentialing delay can move a large share of the total.
Equipment financing vs. an SBA loan
These are the two products practice owners compare most often, and matching the job to the product saves you money. Equipment financing buys a specific asset quickly. An SBA loan funds a larger, slower move such as an acquisition or a full buildout.
| Equipment financing | SBA loan | |
|---|---|---|
| What it funds | One identified asset: an imaging unit, a dental chair, a laser, a sterilizer, a lab analyzer | Broad use: practice acquisition, buildout, partner buyout, debt consolidation, working capital |
| Speed to funding | Fast. Approval can come the same day and funds in as little as 24 hours | Slow by design. Expect several weeks to a few months from application to close |
| Typical term | Matched to the useful life of the equipment, commonly 2 to 7 years | Long. Often 10 years, and longer where real estate is involved |
| Rate level | Moderate. The asset itself secures the loan, which keeps pricing reasonable | Among the lowest available to a practice, because the loan is partially guaranteed |
| Paperwork | Light. A quote or invoice for the equipment plus basic practice financials | Heavy. Full financials, tax returns, projections, personal financial statements, and a documented use of funds |
| Who it suits | A practice that needs a specific machine now and wants the machine to pay for itself | An established practice making a large, planned move where the lowest payment matters more than speed |
What medical and dental practices finance
Practice funding requests cluster around five things, and knowing the payback profile of yours points you to the right product and term. Each one repays differently.
Imaging and diagnostic equipment
Cone beam and panoramic units, ultrasound, digital radiography, in-house lab analyzers. Financing these keeps a service inside your practice instead of referring it out, so the return shows up in retained procedures every month. It spreads the cost across the years the unit is in service rather than taking it out of one quarter.
Operatory and exam room buildout
Adding a chair or an exam room raises the ceiling on your daily patient volume, and funding covers the cabinetry, plumbing, and finish work that get paid long before the first patient sits in the room. Owners usually fund this with long-term business loans sized to the buildout, so payments begin while the room is still filling its schedule.
EHR and practice management systems
A platform migration costs you in two directions: the license and implementation, and the temporary slowdown in billing while staff learn the new system. Budget for both, and let funding carry them. A business line of credit is the common choice here because it covers the implementation and the slow billing weeks that follow.
Practice acquisition and partner buyouts
Buying out a retiring owner, or acquiring a second practice, is the largest funding event you'll face, and financing turns it from a cash problem into a monthly payment. It's also the most predictable, because the target already has a patient base and a payer mix you can review. Long amortization matters more than speed here, which pushes most acquisitions toward SBA financing.
Hiring providers ahead of patient demand
A new associate or hygienist costs full salary from day one and doesn't bill at full volume for months, particularly while credentialing with each payer is pending. Financing covers that ramp so you can hire on the schedule your waitlist justifies rather than waiting for the cash to accumulate. That lets your capacity grow with demand instead of trailing it.
When financing a practice expansion makes sense
Expansion funding is a bet that your new capacity fills up. The bet is a good one under some conditions and a poor one under others, so be honest about which side your practice is on.
Practice expansion financing tends to work when
- You are turning patients away or booking weeks out, so demand is proven rather than projected
- The new capacity has a revenue line attached, such as a procedure you currently refer out and would keep in house
- Your days in accounts receivable are stable, so you can forecast collections against the new payment
- The term is matched to the asset, rather than a long-lived asset squeezed into a short repayment
- Payer contracts and credentialing for any new provider are already in motion, so billing can begin close to opening day
Practice expansion financing tends to backfire when
- The schedule already has open chairs. Adding capacity to a practice that is not full multiplies fixed cost without adding revenue
- Denial rates are climbing and the underlying billing problem has not been addressed. Financing carries that leak forward at interest
- You are borrowing to cover a chronic operating shortfall and calling it expansion. That needs a different fix
- The payment is sized against best-case volume. Run it against a slow quarter and confirm the practice still clears it
- A merchant cash advance is being considered. It is a poor fit for most practices, because insurance-paid revenue does not run through card settlement and the daily repayment pace does not match a reimbursement cycle
Best ways to use healthcare business loans
If your request looks like one of these, one of our advisors can usually point you at the right product on the first call.
Funding options for medical and dental practices
A practice has two very different funding needs: bridging the gap until payers reimburse, and buying assets that will earn for years. The products below split along that line.
Equipment Financing
Finance imaging, chairs, or exam room build-out with the equipment securing the loan.
Learn moreBusiness Lines of Credit
Cover payroll while insurers work through claims, then repay when reimbursements post.
Learn moreSBA Loans
Long terms and low payments suit opening a second location or buying into a practice.
Learn moreShort-Term Business Loans
Add a provider or a treatment room now and repay as the schedule fills.
Learn moreWho qualifies for healthcare business loans?
Underwriting looks at deposits and time in business, not at your specialty. Solo private practices and multi-provider groups are reviewed the same way.
Check if you qualifyFrequently Asked Questions
Can I get a healthcare business loan while waiting on insurance reimbursements?
Yes. Slow payer reimbursement is one of the most common reasons practices seek funding, and it doesn't count against you in underwriting. Lenders look at your bank deposits and time in business rather than at your days in accounts receivable. A line of credit is the usual fit, because you draw only what payroll and supplies require that month and repay as the remittances land. Practices carrying large commercial balances sometimes raise cash against those claims with invoice factoring instead.
Does my payer mix affect whether my practice qualifies?
Not directly. Your payer mix matters more for sizing than for approval. If your practice leans toward government payers, it collects more slowly, so we may recommend a revolving product, or revenue-based financing that moves with your collections, rather than a fixed term that ignores that rhythm.
Can a new practice get funding in its first year?
Often yes, though it comes down to timing. Standard working capital products generally require 6 or more months in business and about $15K in monthly revenue, so if your practice is only a few months into operation you may not qualify yet. Equipment financing is often the exception, because the equipment secures the loan. Practice acquisition is another path, since the practice you're buying already has an operating history to underwrite.
Should I finance dental or medical equipment or pay cash for it?
Cash is cheaper on paper, but it removes the buffer that covers payroll during a slow collection month. Most owners finance the equipment and hold the cash, particularly when the unit begins producing billable procedures immediately. Match the term to the useful life of the equipment so you're not still paying for a machine after you have replaced it.
How much funding can a practice get?
Your practice can get funding up to $5M, depending on the product and the size of the practice. Working capital amounts are generally sized against your monthly deposits, so collecting more each month supports a larger line. Equipment financing is sized against the invoice for the asset. Acquisition and buildout financing is underwritten against the specific transaction and its projected cash flow.
Can funding cover payroll for a new provider before credentialing is complete?
Yes. Paying a new associate or hygienist through the credentialing and ramp period is a normal use of working capital. A line of credit suits it well, because you draw during the months the provider is billing below full volume and stop drawing once their production catches up. Plan the draw against a realistic ramp rather than an optimistic one.
Other industries we fund
We know the cash-flow realities of 22 industries. If yours is not Healthcare, chances are we fund it too.
Grow your practice with healthcare business loans
One application, reviewed by a FundBetter advisor who understands how a practice gets paid. Approvals often come the same day, with funds in as little as 24 hours.