SBA 7(a) Medical Office Feasibility Study in Mississippi

Mississippi physician offices combine a small loan with a relatively strong ratio: the median is $325,000, which is 1.29x the nationwide 7(a) physician median, and half of the 34 loans lie between $100,500 and $572,000. The cell totals $16.8 million. Mississippi is 35th for the class when loans are counted, yet physician offices rank 10 of 39 within the state. None of the loans was franchised.

Two banks

Trustmark Bank shows 8 loans and $1.4 million, and BankFirst Financial Services 6 and $1.7 million. Both averages are small, so these banks hold the modest practices in the table, and the larger loans sit elsewhere. SBA's holder records produced these tallies, and they say nothing about lending method. Hinds County has 5 loans, Oktibbeha 4, Lowndes 3, and Bolivar, DeSoto, Forrest, Leflore, Lincoln and Madison 2 each. Oktibbeha and Lowndes also appear among the leaders, so the activity is not confined to one metro area.

A volatile record

Counts were 4, 5, 2 and 4 in FY2017 to FY2020, then 2 each in FY2021 through FY2023, 5 in FY2024 at $2.1 million, 5 in FY2025 at $6.9 million, and 3 in FY2026. The FY2025 total is far above any other year and reflects a handful of larger purchases. Taken year by year, the record is too thin for a trend.

No rates for cancellation or loss

Mississippi has no published cancellation or charge-off rate here, both cohorts being small. The absence should not be filled with a zero.

What to test for a Mississippi practice

A physician practice study should show how many patients the community can supply, which specialties are in short supply, how payers split between Medicaid, Medicare and commercial insurance, and how reimbursement affects collections. It should test staffing, since recruiting clinicians to smaller towns is often the hardest part, and the cost of fitting out space. Where a building is financed, the appraiser should value it apart from the practice that occupies it. Coverage should be run on a slow patient ramp, with credentialing delays included. A lender will also want to see the physician's history of paid claims or a letter of intent from referring hospitals, since in a state with few comparable loans the borrower's own file carries most of the weight.