The Financial Documents Needed for Your DFW Healthcare Practice Loan

You are an excellent physical therapist. Your patients in Dallas trust you, and your reputation is solid. You have spent years working in a large, corporate-style clinic, and you are finally ready. You want to open your own practice, a space where you can control the patient experience from start to finish.

You find a promising location in Ft. Worth. You’ve sketched out a business plan, researched demographics, and even have a name picked out. The next step is funding. You schedule a meeting at a DFW-based bank to discuss an SBA loan to cover the expensive build-out and specialized equipment.

The loan officer is positive. They like your experience and your vision. Then they hand you a checklist.

"We'll need your 3-year financial projections," they say. "And a detailed sources-and-uses budget for the build-out, plus a pro-forma balance sheet as of day one."

You feel a sinking sensation. This is a language you do not speak. You call the person who handles your 1040-ES, but your "tax-guy" quickly explains this is not what he does. He looks at the past. The bank is asking you to build a detailed, defensible story about the future.

This moment of overwhelm is common for new healthcare entrepreneurs, from chiropractors to physical therapists. The bank isn't asking for these documents to create barriers. It is asking for them to understand its risk.

Your business plan sells the idea. These financial documents prove the viability. They are the real test of whether you have transitioned your thinking from that of a practitioner to that of a business owner. This article will explain what these documents are, why lenders need them, and how to approach building them.

The Banker's Perspective: Looking Forward, Not Backward

When you apply for a loan, the lender has one fundamental question: "How will we get paid back?"

Your personal tax returns show your past income as an employee. They prove you are a responsible earner. But they say nothing about your ability to run a business. A new practice has no history. It has no sales, no expenses, and no track record.

The financial package you present must create a logical, data-driven narrative for a business that does not yet exist. The lender is not just investing in your skill as a therapist. They are investing in your plan's ability to generate cash flow.

For SBA-backed loans, this scrutiny is even higher. The bank must follow federal guidelines to ensure the loan is secured by a sound business model. Your projections are your pledge that you have done the homework. You are not just a great PT. You are a prepared business owner.

Deconstructing the "Big Three" Documents

Let's break down the three items that cause the most confusion. They are all related, telling one continuous story about your new practice.

1. The Foundation: Your Detailed Start-Up Budget

This is often called a "Sources and Uses of Funds" statement. It is a granular list of every single dollar required to get your doors open. Lenders need this to see exactly what they are paying for. It also prevents you from getting halfway through construction and running out of money.

"Equipment and rent" is not a budget. A real budget includes line items like:

• Leasehold Improvements: This is the build-out. It includes construction, flooring, paint, lighting, and plumbing for treatment rooms and a reception area. It should also include architect and design fees.
• Permits and Licensing: Do not forget the costs from the City of Dallas or Ft. Worth. This also includes your state professional licensing and business entity setup fees.
• Equipment: This must be itemized. It means listing the specific cost for treatment tables, ultrasound or e-stim machines, computers, phones, gym equipment, and office furniture.
• Professional Fees: This covers the lawyer who reviews your lease and the accountant or bookkeeper who helps you build this very loan package.
• Initial Operations (Working Capital): This is the most overlooked category. The loan should include enough cash to cover your first three to six months of expenses before you are profitable. This includes your first few rent payments, staff salaries, insurance, utilities, and marketing.

This detailed budget shows the lender that your loan request is based on research, not a guess.

2. The Roadmap: Your Three-Year Financial Projections

This is the most intimidating component. It is a set of forecasts that show how your practice will perform over its first 36 months. It is not one document but three, which all work together.

A. The Projected Income Statement (Profit & Loss)

This forecasts your profitability. It's a simple-looking equation: Revenue - Expenses = Profit. Building it is complex. You must justify your numbers with a separate page of Assumptions.

• Revenue Assumptions: You cannot just invent a sales number. Your revenue forecast must be built from the ground up. How many patients will you see per week in Month 1? How will that grow? What is your average visit count per patient? What is your fee schedule? What is your "payor mix" (e.g., 60% private insurance, 30% Medicare, 10% cash pay)? What is the average reimbursement for each payor?
• Expense Assumptions: This is your detailed operating budget. It includes fixed costs like rent, malpractice insurance, and loan payments. It also includes variable costs like clinical supplies, laundry, and marketing, which will grow as your patient volume grows.

B. The Projected Cash Flow Statement

This is arguably the most important document for a healthcare practice. Profit is not the same as cash.

A physical therapy clinic can be "profitable" on paper but go bankrupt because it runs out of cash. Why? Insurance reimbursements. You may see a patient in January, but you might not receive payment from the insurance carrier until March.

The cash flow statement shows the actual movement of cash in and out of your bank account. It accounts for these delays. It shows the bank that you have enough working capital to pay your rent and staff in February, even while you are waiting for January's revenue to arrive. This projection proves you understand the specific cash cycle of a healthcare business.

C. The Projected Balance Sheet

This is a snapshot of your business's financial health at a specific point in time (e.g., end of Year 1, Year 2, and Year 3). It shows what you own (Assets) and what you owe (Liabilities). The bank wants to see your equity grow over time as you pay down the loan and build a profitable business.

3. The "Day One" Snapshot: The Pro-Forma Balance Sheet

"Pro-forma" is a Latin term that simply means "for the sake of form" or "projected."

This document is a balance sheet that shows the financial position of your practice on the day it opens. It is a snapshot taken after the loan has funded and after you have spent the money from your start-up budget, but before you have seen your first patient.

It will show:

• Assets: The new cash in your bank account, the new equipment you just purchased, and the value of the new build-out (leasehold improvements).
• Liabilities: The full amount of the new SBA loan you just received.
• Equity: The cash contribution you put into the business yourself (often called an owner's injection), which banks almost always require.

This document shows the bank that the business is solvent from the very beginning.

Why Your Tax Preparer Can't Do This (And Who Can)

Let's return to the "tax-guy." A tax preparer is a crucial professional. Their job is to look backward at a completed year and ensure you comply with tax law, minimizing your liability. Their expertise is historical.

Building a loan package requires a completely different skillset. It is forward-looking. It requires financial modeling, market research, and a deep understanding of business operations.

A tax preparer's job is to record history. A financial partner's job is to help you build the future.

This is the work of a professional bookkeeper, an accountant, or a fractional CFO (Chief Financial Officer). These professionals are trained to build financial models. They will ask the hard "what if" questions that a banker will also ask. What if patient volume is 20% lower than you expect? What if your reimbursement rates are 10% less? This is called a sensitivity analysis, and it stress-tests your plan.

Engaging this kind of help is not an admission of weakness. It is the first and most important decision a new CEO makes. A good practitioner focuses on treating patients. A good business owner knows how to delegate complex financial tasks to an expert.

From Great Practitioner to Prepared Owner

The journey from being a highly skilled healthcare practitioner to being a successful DFW practice owner is a significant one. That feeling of being overwhelmed by the bank's checklist is a normal part of the process.

These documents are not just bureaucratic hurdles. They are the essential tools for building a sustainable business. They force you to think through every detail, from payroll to patient flow. They transform your idea into an actionable plan.

The Dallas-Ft. Worth healthcare market is competitive, but it is also full of opportunity for independent-minded chiropractors and physical therapists. Going to the bank with a vague business plan is a recipe for rejection. Going to the bank with a thoughtful, detailed financial package demonstrates that you are ready to succeed.