Physical Therapy Clinic Feasibility Study in South Carolina

A therapy class above the national pace

South Carolina finances therapy clinics a little above their national weight, with the loans somewhat bigger than normal. From FY2017 to FY2026 the state records 43 approvals worth $12.5 million. A location quotient of 1.16x puts the class modestly overweight, the rank is 24 of 54 across the states and 15 of 39 within South Carolina, and the median loan of $215,000 is 1.43x the national median for rehabilitation clinics. Half of the loans run between $82,350 and $330,500. No metric stands apart from both benchmarks.

Program mix, banks and counties

SBA 7(a) accounts for 37 loans and SBA 504 for 6, and franchise brands for 16.3%. TD Bank, National Association appears alone in the lender table: 5 loans worth just $228,000. Greenville County has 8 loans, Charleston and Richland 7 each, Beaufort and York 5 each.

A gap year and a late rise

Approvals were 4, 5 and 3 in the first three years, then fell to a single loan worth $75,000 in FY2020 and none at all in FY2021. Recovery followed in later years: 6 loans in FY2022, 10 loans worth $2.6 million in FY2025, and 5 worth $3.9 million in FY2026, the highest dollar total. These recent loans have little repayment history behind them, and so few approvals cannot show a trend. A borrower or lender should weigh the 43 approvals as a whole before leaning on any single year.

Rates we do not print

Both the cancellation floor and the charge-off rate are withheld in this cell, since Loan Analytics keeps rates resting on under 30 loans off the page; that cutoff is its own presentation choice, not one set by SBA or the state. A reader must not take either gap as zero. Lenders should regard the record as too sparse to judge and ask for the practice's own history.

What the study has to establish

A study should begin with referrals: how many physicians, surgeons and employers send patients within the catchment, and how many therapists already compete for those referrals. Payer mix drives revenue per visit, so the plan should show visits per therapist per day and collections after contractual adjustments. A ticket near $215,000 usually funds equipment, a leasehold and the first months of payroll. Run debt service with a slow ramp in visit volume and a case in which a lead therapist leaves. Because most such loans fund leased space, an appraiser will see little real estate value, and the credit will rest on practice cash flow.