SBA 7(a) Physical Therapy Clinic Feasibility Study in South Carolina

South Carolina therapy clinics borrow more than the national norm

South Carolina's rehabilitation and therapy clinics took 37 approvals totalling $10.3 million. The median of $215,000 is 1.54x the nationwide level, so a South Carolina clinic typically borrows about half again as much as its peers, even though the central loans only run from $75,000 to $319,500. Franchising covers 18.9% of loans. Counting loans puts South Carolina at 24 among states, and the class at 15 of 39 locally. Nothing in the cell passes our margin test, so the evidence rests on rank, on the ratio and on geography. The ratio is the notable fact.

Greenville and Charleston

Greenville County has 8 loans and Charleston 7, with Beaufort and Richland at 5 each, York at 4 and Horry at 2, so lending follows the Upstate, the coast and the capital. TD Bank, National Association appears alone, with 5 loans totalling only $228,000, a very small average that suggests lines of credit or equipment loans rather than property purchases; the table reflects the holder as SBA now records it. Approvals ranged from 5 loans and $1.1 million in FY2018 to a year with none in FY2021, and recovered to 9 loans and $2.2 million in FY2025 and 4 loans and $3.3 million in FY2026.

South Carolina offers no stated cancellation or charge-off figure for these clinics, since the loans are too few. We print nothing and make no claim about the record either way.

Testing a South Carolina clinic

Physical therapy lives on referrals from physicians and surgeons, so a study should name the referral sources and test how much volume they can supply. Therapist headcount sets capacity: the study should state how many treatment visits each therapist can deliver and what share of the schedule fills during ramp-up. Payer mix and the limits that payers set on covered visits determine revenue per visit, so projections should be built from payer assumptions rather than a single rate. Buildout covers treatment tables, exercise equipment and a gym area, and a lease should be long enough to repay it. Because coastal and retirement markets in the state shift population seasonally, check the demand pattern through the year. The appraisal will rest on the business, and the loan sizes here suggest many deals are acquisitions of an established clinic.