Physical Therapy Clinic Feasibility Study in Colorado

Colorado therapy clinics borrow big

Colorado therapy practices ask SBA for more than their peers nationwide. The median loan of $218,000 stands at 1.45x the national figure for rehab and therapy clinics, even though the state ranks 18 of 54 on volume and the class sits only 16 of 39 among Colorado asset types. The state file counts 71 approvals between FY2017 and FY2026 for $25.6 million in total, and the 0.76x location quotient shows that therapy clinics are a thinner slice of Colorado lending than of the national mix. Put those together and the picture is a class that is not especially common in the state but carries larger individual tickets. Neither cancellation nor loss behaves differently here from the state or the class.

Who lends, and for what

Half of the loans fall from $100,000 up to $500,000. Program mix tilts more toward real estate than in many states: the 7(a) program supplied 56 loans and 504 supplied 15, with B:Side Capital the leading 504 sponsor at 9 loans totaling $6.0 million. On the 7(a) list, Wells Fargo Bank National Association holds 6 loans, and The Huntington National Bank holds 5 for $660,500, a modest average. Franchising is minor at 8.5% of loans, so this is mostly independent clinics and small groups. Geography is spread across the metro belt instead of piling into one county: Arapahoe, Boulder and El Paso counties each show 8 loans, Jefferson 7 and Denver 6. Annual counts moved between 3 loans in FY2018 and 12 in FY2026, and FY2022 carried the biggest dollar year at $5.8 million.

Colorado clinics lose 11.8% or more of earlier approvals to cancellation, with a ceiling of 13.7% if loans not yet drawn never fund. No Colorado charge-off percentage appears, since too few early loans reached funding; the missing number is a limit of the sample, not evidence of a clean record. Lenders underwriting a Colorado clinic should lean on the national class record for loss expectations and treat the thin local sample as unproven.

What the study has to answer

An analysis of a Colorado physical therapy project should open with referrals. Clinics live on physicians, employers and direct access patients, so the study should map nearby orthopedic and primary care sources and the therapists already serving them, in Denver and its suburbs, Boulder, Colorado Springs or Fort Collins. Staffing is the next test: licensed therapists are the capacity, and the plan must show hiring and ramp time. On cost, a typical SBA ticket near $218,000 is a useful yardstick for equipment and tenant improvements, and a project far above it needs a reason. Payment coverage should be shown from visit counts and payer mix, reimbursement pressure included, and the appraisal of a going practice will rest on collections, so the study must supply clean historical revenue where it exists.