Imaging Center Feasibility Study in California

California is the top state for imaging center loans

California ranks 1 of 42 among states for diagnostic imaging center loans, with 62 loans approved from FY2017 to FY2026 for $55.6 million, and a location quotient of 1.50x shows a higher share than the national mix. Inside California, though, the class is only 27 of 39. The median loan of $475,150 is 1.36x the figure for imaging nationwide, with most requests between $150,000 and $1.1 million. A California imaging borrower is typically buying or upgrading costly equipment, which explains why requests extend above what many outpatient practices need.

Lender mix and county pattern

SBA 7(a) carried 54 loans and SBA 504 carried 8. Franchise affiliation is 0.00%. JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association is the one lender with five or more loans, at 7 loans and $1.4 million, so average tickets from that lender are small. Los Angeles County has 23 loans, more than three times the next county; Orange has 7, San Diego 6, San Bernardino 5, with Riverside and San Joaquin at 4.

A low cancellation record and a withheld charge-off rate

Cancellation is modest in this class. Only 4.3% of approvals from FY2017 to FY2024 fell out at the floor, and 6.4% at the ceiling that treats undisbursed loans as cancelled. No charge-off rate is printed for California, because Loan Analytics withholds any rate that rests on fewer than 30 loans and the disbursed cohort here is below that, which makes the gap a missing value and never a zero. Neither a lender nor a buyer should read the blank as a clean record. Yearly activity grew late: 13 loans and $7.3 million in FY2024 and 11 loans and $10.3 million in FY2025, after only 1 loan worth $4.6 million in FY2023.

What an imaging study has to test

Imaging economics depend on referrals and reimbursement, so a study must show where scans will come from and which payers cover them. Equipment cost, shielding and installation drive the budget, and technology turns over, so the study should test a refresh cycle. The coverage test should assume referrals build slowly, and it should show how many scans per week the loan payment needs before any profit remains. A borrower should also state who will read the images, who will staff the machines and what happens to revenue if a key referring practice moves away. The appraisal has to separate equipment, leasehold value and the business, because equipment loses value faster than a building.