Quarrymoor Financial, a small-business funding service in Kingman, Arizona, arranges medical practice loans through funding partners: working capital through insurance reimbursement delays, medical equipment financing, partner buy-ins and clinic expansions. Mohave County, AZ had 136 physician office employers in 2023 (CBP), and health care had the county's largest payroll. Partners make credit decisions and set rates and terms.
| Physician office employer locations, Mohave County, AZ | 1,010 on payroll at 136 employer sites (CBP count, 2023) |
|---|---|
| Physician offices with fewer than five employees | 55.1% (CBP 2023) |
| Health care and social assistance payroll, county | $563.2 million, the largest of any sector (CBP 2023) |
| Physician offices with no paid employees | 84 with no payroll at all (NES count, 2024) |
The reimbursement gap
A practice pays its employees, rent, supplies and malpractice premiums on fixed dates, while revenue arrives on payers' schedules. Claims to commercial insurers and government programs can take weeks, and denials or resubmissions stretch that further. A growing practice, adding a provider or a payer, can feel the gap sharply, because costs rise before the new claims are paid.
Lenders and other funding partners understand this cycle well. Clean billing records, aging reports and a steady deposit history make medical practices relatively clear to review.
Working capital for medical practices waiting on claims
Working capital covers payroll and supplies through the reimbursement lag, a new provider's ramp-up, or a billing system change that slows claims for a few months. Ask partners whether repayments can be monthly rather than daily, because a practice's deposits arrive in batches, not every day.
Medical practice equipment financing options, device by device
Exam tables, diagnostic devices, imaging, sterilization equipment, EHR hardware and software are typical purchases. Medical equipment holds value better than many categories, and equipment financing for it often runs on terms set to the device's useful life. Leasing can suit technology that dates quickly. Software and installation are soft costs; list them separately on the quote.
Physician practice buy-in loans and buying out a retiring doctor
A physician buying into a group, or buying a retiring colleague's practice, is usually financed with a term loan. Partners look at the practice's financial statements and payer mix, the purchase or buy-in agreement, and the buyer's own income history. A buy-in agreement that sets out the valuation method and payment schedule makes the request straightforward.
Medical clinic loans for expansion
Adding exam rooms, opening a second clinic or building out an urgent-care suite combines construction, equipment and the months before new patients generate claims. Partners usually want the build-out bid, the equipment list, the lease and a realistic ramp-up plan. Healthcare practice loans for expansion are often split: a term loan for the build-out, equipment financing for the devices, and a line or working capital for the opening months.
What a partner asks a medical practice for
- Bank statements that show insurer and patient deposits separately
- A claims aging report: how much is outstanding and for how long
- Payer mix, in rough shares, so a partner can see concentration
- Provider count and any planned additions
- Existing equipment leases and loans with their payments
- For purchases, the valuation and the sale or buy-in agreement
None of these comes with a published cut-off. A practice with a long claims tail is not ruled out; it simply needs the request sized to how slowly that tail pays.
Questions a practice should ask before signing
- Are payments monthly, or daily or weekly debits that clash with how claims arrive?
- Does the equipment agreement allow an upgrade before the term ends?
- If a partner in the practice leaves, who remains on the personal guarantee?
- What does it cost to pay the balance off early, in dollars?
An illustration with invented numbers
A two-physician family practice adds a nurse practitioner. Salary and benefits run about $11,000 a month, and new claims take roughly 45 days to pay. Over the first three months the practice spends $33,000 on the new provider and collects perhaps $14,000 from her early claims, leaving a gap near $19,000 before revenue catches up. These figures are made up; the habit is to size the request to the ramp-up, not to a round number.
Healthcare practice loans and the credentialing wait
Hiring a new physician or nurse practitioner can be a reason a clinic's cash dips, and the cause is administrative. Until the new provider is credentialed with each insurer, visits either cannot be billed or are billed under limits, yet the salary starts on day one. The gap can run for several months, and it is predictable, which makes it easier to fund than a surprise.
A worksheet with invented numbers
A clinic hires a provider at an invented $16,000 a month in salary and benefits. Credentialing with the main payers takes an assumed four months, and claims then pay about six weeks after the visit. The practice therefore carries roughly five and a half months of that salary, about $88,000, before the new provider's collections arrive. A working capital request sized to that worksheet, with the credentialing applications attached, explains itself. These figures are made up.
- Credentialing application dates and status for each payer
- The provider's employment agreement and start date
- A payer-mix report for the existing practice
- Unpaid claims sorted by insurer and by age
County Business Patterns 2023, our arithmetic: physician offices in Mohave County, AZ averaged about 7.4 employees per location and paid about $78,100 per employee, the highest per-employee payroll among the health pages on this site.
Physician-office counts for Mohave County, AZ from the Census Bureau
| Measure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Employer establishments | 136 | County Business Patterns 2023, NAICS 6211 |
| Paid employees | 1,010 | CBP 2023, pay period including March 12 |
| Annual payroll | $78.9 million | CBP 2023 |
| Locations below five employees | 55.1% (75) | CBP 2023 |
| Establishments with a ZIP 86401 address | 8 | ZIP Business Patterns 2023 (USPS ZIP area, not city limits) |
| No-payroll businesses (counted separately) | 84, receipts $8.8 million | Nonemployer Statistics 2024, NAICS 6211 (separate program; not added to CBP) |
Health care and social assistance had the largest payroll of any sector in the county in 2023, about $563.2 million across 518 employer establishments (CBP). Physician offices are a mix of small and larger practices: 55.1% had fewer than five employees. Dentists and other practitioners have their own pages: dental practice loans and chiropractic and physical therapy practice loans. County-wide numbers are on the page of Kingman, AZ business figures, and the industry pages cover outpatient centers and home health.
By Quarrymoor Financial · Updated
