Medical Office Feasibility Study in Arkansas

Small physician loans in a modest market

Arkansas physician-office loans are small by national standards. The median is $203,100, only 0.59x the national level, with the bulk of loans from $100,000 to $606,000. From FY2017 to FY2026 the program backed 36 loans for $26.3 million. The location quotient of 0.88x shows the class a little lighter than in the national book. Arkansas sits 37 of 53 on state rank, with physician offices 12 of 39 locally. The profile suggests new or small practices, with leased space and limited equipment, rather than large building purchases.

Arvest and the northwest

Loans under SBA 7(a) number 33 and loans under SBA 504 number 3, and none is franchised. Arvest Bank is the lone lender at the listing threshold, with 9 loans worth $1.1 million, a small average. Benton and Pulaski counties each have 5 loans, Washington has 3, and the remaining counties have 2 or fewer, among them Baxter, Crittenden, Desha, Garland, Ouachita, Pike and Pope. That is a thin and scattered map, and it indicates that a rural physician looking for precedent will find few comparable loans nearby.

What the blanks mean

This cell cannot publish cancellation or charge-off figures, as each cohort holds under 30 loans. The blanks are not zeros. Medical practices can fail quietly when a physician leaves or is acquired by a hospital group, and a loan-level count would not show that. Lenders should ask about the sponsor's referral base and payer contracts, not just collateral.

The study an Arkansas practice needs

A study should confirm that the physician or group is credentialed with the main payers, and estimate patient volumes from the catchment, competing practices and the nearest hospital's referral pattern. It should test rent against collections per square foot and show that a conservative first year still meets debt service coverage. If the practice buys a building, the valuation has to set the property apart from the practice itself, including how hard the space would be to re-let to another provider. Rural recruitment is a particular risk, since a practice cannot grow without another provider. The record on this page gives a state-level reference.