SBA 7(a) Medical Office Feasibility Study in Louisiana

Louisiana physicians: larger tickets, the lowest cancellation floor

Medical offices for physicians in Louisiana show the unusual pairing of larger loans and almost no cancellation. The median of $286,000 is 1.14x the nationwide level, with loans in the central band running $170,000 to $395,000. The cancellation floor is 0.00% and the ceiling 3.3%, so very few approvals fell through. Forty-five approvals totalling $18.9 million are recorded. Franchise share is 0.00%. The state stands at 30 by count among states, and the class lands at 10 of 39 within Louisiana. No distinctness basis is recorded.

Hancock Whitney and the parishes

Hancock Whitney Bank holds 7 loans and $5.5 million, the one lender in the table, as SBA records the current holder. In the table's county column, East Baton Rouge and Saint Tammany have 7 loans each, Lafayette 5, and Jefferson and Orleans 3. Approvals jumped late: 10 loans and $3.3 million in FY2024 and 11 loans and $4.6 million in FY2025, after as few as 1 loan and $250,000 in FY2022.

Loss experience is unmeasured here, because the early cohort is too thin for a rate. A clean cancellation record does not tell a lender about losses, and we give no number.

Testing a Louisiana practice

A feasibility study should say whether the loan finances an acquisition, a relocation or a new office. Referral networks, hospital affiliation and payer contracts determine volume, and the study should test collections under conservative reimbursement. A practice in a storm-exposed state should price flood and wind insurance and the cost of interruption, and a lender will ask about both. Staffing, malpractice cost and electronic record systems belong in expenses. Where the owner buys the building, an appraiser will consider alternative medical use, so the study should show how adaptable the space is. Coverage should be demonstrated at partial capacity and at full, with a stated ramp. A low cancellation record suggests approvals here tend to hold, but repayment still rests on the evidence in the study. Hospital privileges, call coverage and the number of exam rooms should be stated, because a practice cannot grow beyond the rooms and providers it has. The study should also name how quickly new patients can be booked, since access is what turns referrals into visits.

Because the ceiling of 3.3% is so low, a Louisiana borrower should not take comfort from it alone. Approvals that hold still have to repay, and the study is where a lender sees whether a practice with a $286,000 median loan can carry its debt through a slow quarter of billing.