Buying a practice is usually funded with longer-term money — SBA or term loans — because the price is large and the payback runs over years, not months. The practice's own bank statements carry the file: an established patient base with steady deposits is precisely what lenders fund against.
Why acquisitions are term-loan territory
An acquisition is repaid out of years of future practice income, so it belongs on the cheapest long money available — SBA and term loans. The trade is documentation and time: tax returns, practice financials, and a lender process measured in weeks. For a purchase that has been months in negotiation, those weeks are usually affordable.
Where speed still matters
Deals have deadlines inside them: a deposit to secure exclusivity, equipment the seller will not include, a fit-out before opening under new ownership. Shorter-term working capital can bridge those moments while the main loan completes — sized small and cleared at completion, not carried.
What the file needs to show
Two sets of evidence: the practice being bought (its statements prove the income the loan repays from) and the buyer (experience, licence, and their own financial conduct). The strongest buy-in files show a practice whose deposits comfortably cover the proposed payment with room to spare — the same deposits-first logic as every other file, just over a longer horizon.
Expect the valuation conversation too: practice price usually reflects patient lists and recurring revenue more than hard assets, so a clean handover plan — records, staff, insurer contracts transferring — strengthens the file as much as the numbers do.
Partial buy-ins and partner exits
Buying into a partnership or funding a partner's exit follows the same shape at smaller scale, and sometimes fits revenue-based structures where the amounts are modest and speed matters to the relationship. The practice's statements still decide; the structure follows the size and the timeline.
Read next: SBA & term loans · Medical practice funding · Practice cash flow
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