Urgent Care Feasibility Study

Questions buyers ask

Who prepares a feasibility study for an urgent care or surgery center loan?

Loan Analytics does, as an independent consultant whose report goes into the lender's file, with Daniel Smith, MAI signing it. The study covers walk-in urgent care, ambulatory surgery and freestanding emergency projects, which SBA's files code together, and it is drafted to the financing in play, whether a 7(a) or 504 guarantee from SBA, USDA's guarantee under Business and Industry, or plain bank credit. It places the project in the SBA record on this page, 273 7(a) loans and 37 504 loans in FY2017 to FY2026, by state, metro and loan size, and then supplies what no loan file holds: the visits or cases, payers, competitors, licenses and budget of the subject itself.

Will the lender insist on a feasibility study for my urgent care clinic?

That is the lender's decision under its credit policy and its program, and the record on this page shows why lenders in this class often make it. Of 7(a) approvals dated FY2017 through FY2024, at least 14.0% never funded; under 504 the floor is 29.0%; and 2.5% or more of the 7(a) loans that funded in FY2017 through FY2021 were later charged off. A clinic or surgery center earns its payments through its operator, its physicians and its payer contracts, so a lender cannot lean on the building alone and asks for evidence that the facility will perform. A ground-up project, or a request sized over $2 million to $5 million, where this class's 7(a) dollars concentrate, gives a lender the strongest reason to ask.

How much does an urgent care feasibility study cost?

This site prices studies only from its own 2026 fee survey, which collects the ranges providers post publicly. For SBA work on one standard special-purpose site the survey's band is $5,000 to $12,500. For complex SBA engagements, a tier whose examples include multi-site deals, ground-up hotels and phased construction, the band is $10,000 to $25,000. Studies meeting 7 CFR Part 5001 for USDA open at $7,500 and reach beyond $18,750. Urgent care is not priced by name in the survey. An operating walk-in clinic belongs nearer the first band than a new surgery center with physician owners and phased construction, and our own fee arrives once we have read your scope request.

What is the timeline for an urgent care feasibility study?

We do not quote a standard period. The schedule is set in our reply to the scope request, working back from the date your lender needs the report. In this class the time goes into evidence that sits outside the sponsor's own file: the license or certification path for the format, letters of intent or ownership commitments from the physicians or surgeons who will bring patients, the status of payer contracts, the competing providers counted in the trade area, and contractor and equipment quotes for the build-out. A sponsor holding those documents shortens the work. One still negotiating them should order the study early, since unfinished items of this kind are what a lender will want settled before closing.

What does an urgent care feasibility study test?

The format comes first, since SBA's files lump walk-in clinics, day-surgery centers and stand-alone emergency rooms together although they differ in revenue, licensing and cost. For urgent care, the study projects visits from the households and workers near the site, their insurance, and the clinics, hospital emergency departments and retail clinics already serving them. For surgery, it counts the cases the committed surgeons can bring and the specialties they cover. Then come reimbursement by payer, the build-out and equipment budget from quotes, staffing for the hours or cases planned, the opening ramp, and a coverage stress test carried beyond the fifth anniversary of funding; in this class, 7(a) charge-offs stand at 0.85% within 5 years and 2.5% to date.

Is a feasibility study for an ambulatory surgery center different from one for urgent care?

Yes, even though SBA's files pool them: one NAICS code holds walk-in clinics, day-surgery centers and stand-alone emergency rooms alike, so every count here blends the three. A walk-in clinic's demand comes from the people living and working near the site; a surgery center's comes from the surgeons who commit to it and the cases they control. The surgery study therefore tests physician commitments and ownership, case volume by specialty, the operating rooms and their equipment, and state licensing and certification. The class's wide spread of loan sizes, from a 7(a) lower quartile of $200,000 to 49 loans over $2 million to $5 million, is what a mix of such different formats would produce, which is why the class median should not be read as the size of any single format.

How many SBA loans have gone to urgent care and surgery centers?

Between FY2017 and FY2026, SBA lenders approved 273 7(a) loans for $311.4 million and 37 504 loans for $54.5 million in this class. The full record, measurable from FY2001, holds 748 7(a) loans for $587.6 million and 100 504 loans for $108.4 million. The busiest 7(a) year was FY2016, with 59 loans; within the last decade the high was 34 in FY2021 and the low 12 in FY2020. Under 504 no year exceeds 8 loans, and FY2024 had none. Any year whose files leave too many loans without a code the class can use carries a floor count, so these totals are minimums and the real lending may be larger.

What size SBA loan does an urgent care center usually get?

Under 7(a) the middle loan in FY2017 to FY2026 is $687,000, with a lower quartile of $200,000 and an upper quartile of $1.6 million. Under 504 the middle loan is $1.4 million, with quartiles of $722,000 and $1.9 million. The single most crowded 7(a) tier, with 66 loans, runs over $350,000 to $1 million, but the most dollars sit with clinic and surgery loans sized over $2 million to $5 million, $170.2 million on 49 loans, and no loan in either program exceeds $5 million. By place, the medians are $1.2 million in California, $1.1 million in Texas, $800,000 in Florida and $550,000 across the New York-Newark-Jersey City area. Because the class mixes clinics with surgery and emergency centers, the right size for a project comes from its own budget rather than from these medians.

Should an urgent care project use SBA 7(a) or 504?

The program is a choice for the lender and the borrower, and this page reports outcomes rather than eligibility. What it shows is that 7(a) carries most of the class, 273 loans against 37 under 504 in FY2017 to FY2026, and that the two programs look different. Loans under 504 are the bigger ones here, at a $1.4 million median over a $722,000 lower quartile, and their cancellation floor is 29.0% against 14.0% under 7(a). California is the one state where 504 is a large part of the class, with 12 of its 38 loans. We draft to whichever program carries the loan, and in a 504 clinic or surgery file the lender's sharpest question will be whether the approval actually funds.

Why are so many urgent care and surgery center approvals cancelled?

SBA's data marks an approval as cancelled without giving a reason. The floors themselves are clear: at least 14.0% of 7(a) approvals dated FY2017 through FY2024 and at least 29.0% of the 504 approvals never funded, and among the states with a printed rate, Florida stands at 22.6% and Texas at 10.3%. Projects in this class depend on pieces that arrive separately: a license or certification, committed physicians or surgical partners, payer contracts, a site or lease, and a construction budget that holds. An approval granted before those pieces are in place can lapse when one of them fails. The study shows the lender, item by item, which pieces are secured and which still carry dates.

How often do SBA urgent care loans default?

The page reports charge-offs, the loans written off, and reports them as floors. Among the class's 7(a) loans that funded in FY2017 through FY2021, the written-off share to date has a floor of 2.5%, and 0.85% went within 5 years of funding, so part of the losses arrived after the fifth year. No 504 rate is printed because that cohort holds under 30 loans, no state prints a rate, and the New York area's figure is withheld. A blank in any of those places means unpublished, never zero. Lenders treat the 2.5% floor as the class's loss record, and the study meets it by showing the subject's coverage under a reimbursement cut and a slower ramp.

Which states have the most SBA urgent care and surgery center loans?

Texas leads with 44 loans for $74.1 million in FY2017 to FY2026, then California with 38 for $58.7 million and Florida with 37 for $45.5 million. New Jersey follows with 24 loans for $24.0 million, then Georgia and New York with 15 each, North Carolina with 14 and Arizona with 13, whose loans carry $26.0 million, more than any state outside the leading three. Only those three rows go deep enough for medians, program counts and a cancellation floor. The urgent care pages for Texas, California and Florida linked from this page go further inside each of those states.

Which lenders and loan types are active in urgent care lending?

This page's tables count the class by program, state, metro and loan size; they do not rank lenders, so none is named here. On loan types, 7(a) dominates, with 273 loans against 37 under 504 in FY2017 to FY2026, and its loans run from 60 of $150,000 or less up to 49 sized over $2 million to $5 million. Under 504, 16 loans sized over $1 million to $2 million make up the busiest tier. Our report is addressed to the bank or lender actually carrying your file, and it sets the request beside peers of its own program and size.

Is urgent care lending in the New York area different?

It is the one metro area with its own row: New York-Newark-Jersey City holds 31 loans for $32.0 million over the decade to FY2026, a count beaten only by the Texas, California and Florida state rows. Its median of $550,000 is the lowest the page prints, below the class's 7(a) median of $687,000, and its charge-off figure is withheld, which is not a zero. A study for a project there is measured against smaller peers than one in Texas or California, has to justify a larger request by its format, budget and payer base, and has to count competing providers street by street, since the metro already carries more of the class's loans than most states do.

Will you write an urgent care study for a USDA B&I guaranteed loan?

We will, and it is drafted to USDA's rules rather than SBA's. The counts on this page come from SBA's files only, so for a Business and Industry file the national figures here serve as context while the study's own market, payer and cost evidence carries the case. For the fee, the 2026 survey of study pricing on this site gives USDA work under 7 CFR Part 5001 its own band, opening at $7,500, above where the single-site SBA band begins. Name the program when you request the scope, so the study is built to that standard from its first page.

Does the SBA record separate urgent care from surgery centers and freestanding ERs?

No. The three formats sit under one NAICS code, so SBA's files cannot distinguish a walk-in clinic from a surgery center or an emergency facility, and every figure on this page covers the three together. That mix helps explain why the class spreads so widely in size, from 60 small 7(a) loans, each $150,000 or less, to 49 over $2 million to $5 million, and why a class median says little about any single project. The study fixes the format first and then uses the record with care: as evidence of how lenders have treated the class as a whole, while the project's own budget, demand and payers decide the case.

Are SBA lenders still financing urgent care in 2026?

Yes. In FY2026 SBA lenders approved 20 7(a) loans and 4 504 loans in this class, after 25 7(a) loans and 2 504 loans in FY2025. The decade's 7(a) high was 34 loans in FY2021, and FY2023 and FY2024 each carried 33, so FY2026 is a quieter year rather than a stop. The long table withholds the dollar figures for FY2025 and FY2026, so they are not quoted here. For a project being financed now, the study's job is to show that this facility, in this trade area, earns its payments, whatever the national count does in a given year.

What do I send to get an urgent care feasibility study scoped?

Send the site or trade area, the format (walk-in urgent care, ambulatory surgery or a freestanding emergency facility), the services and hours planned, the physicians, surgeons or operator involved and their commitments, the payer contracts signed or in negotiation, the license or certification status, the build-out and equipment budget, the loan program and amount, and the lender with its deadline. With those in hand we can locate the request within the national record above, say whether it sits near the $687,000 7(a) median, the $1.4 million 504 median or in the top occupied band, and reply through the Request Scope & Timeline form with the scope, the schedule and the fee.