Medical Equipment Financing
Medical equipment financing funds $5,000 to $2 million, starting around 5.99% APR, with the machine itself as collateral and up to 100% of the cost covered on a strong file. Here is the part that sets it apart from most equipment loans. Diagnostic and dental gear holds its value, so the asset genuinely carries the loan, which buys longer terms, lower rates, and approvals a newer practice would never get on a truck or a kitchen line. Match the term to the life of the device, and keep the shielding and install off the equipment loan.
Bottom line
Finance the durable gear you will run for a decade, and lease the tech that dates. Equipment loans fund $5K to $2M from about 5.99% APR with the device as collateral, and because imaging, chairs, and sterilizers hold real resale value, the machine carries the loan, so terms run longer and rates lower than in most equipment categories. Keep room shielding and installation off the equipment loan, because those are leasehold improvements a lender will not title. Never buy a 10-year machine with a 9-month cash advance.
What a practice fit-out actually costs
A single operatory or exam room runs $20,000 to $60,000 once you add the imaging and the sterilization behind it, and a full practice build can clear $500,000 before the first patient sits down. The biggest swing is imaging and the room it lives in. Below is where the money goes, and which lines equipment financing will actually fund.
Dental operatory: chair, delivery unit, light, cabinetry
$8,000 to $25,000 per room
A 10-to-15-year asset with a real secondary market. This is the core of what equipment financing was built to fund, and where it works best and cheapest.
3D cone-beam or panoramic imaging (CBCT)
$60,000 to $150,000
Holds value better than almost anything else in the building, so lenders term it long and price it low. The single strongest piece of collateral a practice owns.
Ultrasound, EKG, or in-office diagnostic cart
$20,000 to $90,000
The cart and transducers hold value; the software and the probes date faster. Finance the platform, but read the upgrade path before you sign a 7-year term.
Autoclave, sterilizer, and instrument sets
$3,000 to $15,000
Simple, durable, and genuinely resellable. Small enough to pay cash, but easy to roll into the loan on the machines that matter.
Aesthetic or surgical laser
$80,000 to $250,000
The one piece that obsoletes like consumer tech. A newer platform ships every few years, so a fair market value lease or a shorter term often beats owning a device you will want to trade.
EHR hardware, monitors, networking
$10,000 to $40,000
Dead in three to five years. Lease it. The software license itself is a service, not titled equipment, so an equipment lender will not fund that line at all.
Room shielding, electrical, HVAC, install, training
$10,000 to $60,000+
Lead-lined walls for an X-ray or CT room, the power and cooling to run it, and the install and training are leasehold improvements and services. Most equipment lenders will not touch them. Budget cash or a term loan.
Read that list once more and a line splits down the middle. The machines on top hold value and finance cleanly. The last row, the shielding and the install, is not financeable equipment at all. Lead walls, dedicated power, and a tech's install labor are leasehold improvements attached to the building, and an equipment lender cannot repossess a lead-lined wall. On a $200,000 quote, maybe $160,000 is titled equipment and the rest is soft cost. Those two piles fund through different products, which is the whole reason the equipment financing versus SBA 7(a) split matters before you ever pick a lender.
Why medical gear gets terms other equipment never sees
Here is what most articles get wrong, and it works in your favor. They treat all equipment financing the same. It is not. A fryer line or a used restaurant range is worth pennies at auction, so a lender underwrites your sales and barely counts the machine. Medical and dental equipment is the opposite case.
A CBCT unit, a dental chair, an autoclave, a lab analyzer: these are built to a standard, serviced for fifteen years, and traded in a genuine secondary market where a refurbished scanner with an OEM warranty still commands real money. The lender knows it can recover on the asset, so the collateral does the heavy lifting the way it does on a Class 8 truck or a CNC machine. That one fact changes every term that follows.
Practically, it means three things. Terms run longer, often the full 84 months, because the machine outlives the loan. Rates sit lower than a cash-flow product at the same credit tier, because the lender is less exposed. And approvals reach practices that could not get funded on revenue alone, which is why a newly licensed dentist or physician can finance a $120,000 operatory in year one. Your medical and dental practice revenue still matters for the soft costs and the working capital. For the machines themselves, the asset is the argument.
Finance, lease, or pay cash: match the money to the life of the device
One rule settles most of this. Match the length of the financing to how long the device stays useful. A dental chair lasts fifteen years, so a five-year loan on it is cheap money. EHR hardware is dead in four, so a seven-year lease on it is a trap. Here are the three ways practices actually pay, and where each one fits.
Comparison current as of November 2026. Rates, lease structures, and lender policies change. Verify current terms before relying on any number below.
Equipment loan or $1-buyout lease
- Rate
- 5.99% to 20% APR
- Term
- 24 to 84 months
- End
- You own it. Title transfers, or you buy it for $1 at lease end.
Fits: The imaging suite, the chairs, the sterilizers, anything you will run for a decade. Because medical gear holds value, $0 down is realistic on a clean file, the term runs long, and the interest is deductible.
Fair market value lease
- Rate
- Lower monthly, higher total
- Term
- 24 to 60 months
- End
- You return it or buy it at market value at the end.
Fits: EHR hardware, monitors, and software-driven devices like a laser you expect to trade. You give up ownership for a smaller payment and a clean upgrade when the next platform ships.
Merchant cash advance
- Rate
- 1.10 to 1.50 factor (40% to 150%+ effective APR)
- Term
- Daily or weekly holdback, 3 to 18 months
- End
- Nothing. It is a sale of future revenue, not a purchase.
Fits: A short collections gap at a practice already seeing patients. Never a 10-year machine. Paying off a CBCT over nine months out of daily deposits is how equipment purchases quietly sink a healthy practice.
The finance-versus-lease call is really a question about obsolescence, not about the lowest monthly payment. A fair market value lease looks cheaper every month and costs more in the end, which is a fine trade for EHR hardware you want to swap in three years and a poor one for an imaging suite you will run until you sell the practice. The equipment financing versus leasing breakdown runs the full cost math on both.
On the tax timing: equipment placed in service by December 31 can often be fully expensed that tax year under Section 179 and bonus depreciation, whether you finance it or pay cash, instead of depreciated over several years. The limits sit far above a typical operatory, so your taxable income and the in-service date are the real constraints. Confirm the current-year figures with your CPA; the IRS Publication 946 is the primary source.
The manufacturer's 0% is sometimes real, sometimes a markup
Every imaging and dental vendor will offer you in-house financing, often at a headline 0% or a low promotional rate, and your rep will push it hard because the finance arm is a profit center. Sometimes it is genuinely the best deal on the board. Sometimes the 0% is paid for by a price you never see.
The test is simple. Ask for two numbers in writing: the cash price and the financed price. If they match, a true 0% is almost impossible to beat and you should take it. If the cash price is lower, the gap between the two is the real interest rate buried in the offer, and a 6% independent equipment loan on the cash number can quietly cost less than the vendor's 0% on the list number. Watch for the near cousins too: a promo that defers payments and then balloons, or a 0% paired with a service contract priced to recover the subsidy.
None of this makes vendor financing bad. It makes it one quote among several. Price it against a shopped field the same way you would any offer, convert anything quoted as a factor rate using the factor rate to APR math, and let the lowest total cost win rather than the lowest headline.
What $150,000 of equipment costs, three ways to pay
Same $150,000 of imaging and operatory gear, three structures, one practice collecting about $60,000 a month. Watch what each path does to that number. Illustrative figures on generic numbers. Run yours.
Path A — Equipment loan, $150,000 at 7.99% over 60 months
Monthly payment about $3,041. Total paid across five years runs roughly $182,400, so the cost of the money is near $32,400. The gear collateralizes itself, $0 down is realistic on a clean file because the asset holds value, and the interest is deductible. Against $60,000 of monthly collections, a $3,041 payment is a rounding error, which is the entire point of matching a five-year loan to a fifteen-year machine.
Path B — Fair market value lease
Lower monthly, often by $300 to $500, in exchange for owning nothing at the end. A fine structure for the fast-aging slice of the build, the EHR hardware and the laser you expect to trade. A poor one for the imaging suite, where you give up ownership of a machine you were going to keep for a decade. Lease the parts that obsolete. Finance the parts that last. Most practices end up doing both on the same build, and that is the right answer, not a compromise.
Path C — $150,000 merchant cash advance at a 1.35 factor
Total repayment $202,500. Over a nine-month holdback that is about $22,500 a month, or roughly $1,038 every business day, pulled straight out of your deposits the week the equipment arrives. Set that against $60,000 of monthly collections, on top of rent, payroll, lab bills, and supplies, and a healthy practice starts missing payroll. You bought a machine that lasts a decade with money that has to be gone in nine months. The math does not work, and it is not supposed to. An advance is a tool for a short collections gap, not a way to buy a scanner.
Pick: finance the long-life imaging and chairs on Path A, lease the EHR hardware and the tradeable laser on Path B, and keep the shielding and install on a separate term loan or cash. Path C is not a more expensive version of the same purchase. It is a different outcome, and the outcome is bad. If you are weighing the whole practice rather than one machine, the medical practice financing guide runs the same discipline across the build-out, the equipment, and the credentialing gap.
What to have ready before you apply
Five things decide how fast and how cheap this goes. The shorter your list of missing documents, the sooner the scanner is running and the better your rate. One of these does more work than the other four, and it is the itemized quote.
Three to six months of business bank statements
The first thing anyone reads. Average daily balance, insurance deposit rhythm, and whether another advance is already debiting you. Two NSFs in ninety days move your pricing more than fifty points of FICO.
An itemized vendor quote, split by device
Not a lump sum. Equipment lenders title specific units by model and serial, so a quote that lists each machine funds in days. A single 'office build-out' number gets kicked to a slower term-loan desk.
The shielding and install costs, called out separately
Lead shielding, the electrical and HVAC for an imaging room, install, and training are leasehold improvements and services. Knowing that number up front keeps the soft costs from blowing up an equipment approval at the last minute.
Personal FICO and a personal guarantee
Expect a personal guarantee. The good news is that medical collateral holds value, so a thinner file clears here than in most categories, and some healthcare-specialty lenders will fund a newly licensed provider on the license and projections before the first full year of revenue.
Time in business and monthly revenue
Twelve months open and roughly $8,000 a month in deposits gets you in at the general equipment desk. A brand-new or de novo practice routes to the healthcare-specialty lenders instead, who underwrite the profession, not just the months.
A quick word if a dental practice purchase is driving the equipment list. When the gear comes bundled into buying out a retiring dentist, the machines usually fold into the acquisition loan, and the dental practice acquisition guide and the broader equipment financing guide both go deeper on how to keep the equipment on its own faster, cheaper term instead.
Price the equipment before you sign the vendor contract
A 2-minute application puts your file in front of lenders who fund medical and dental equipment across loans, leases, and term structures, including the healthcare-specialty desks that fund newer practices. Soft credit pull, no obligation to take anything that comes back.
Frequently asked questions
Can I finance medical equipment with a new or thin-file practice?
More easily than in almost any other category. Because imaging, dental chairs, and sterilizers hold their value, the machine is real collateral, so lenders lean on the asset instead of only on your revenue. A general equipment desk usually wants twelve months in business and steady deposits, but healthcare-specialty lenders go further, funding newly licensed dentists, physicians, and vets on the license and a credible projection before the practice has a full year of collections.
Should I lease or finance medical equipment?
Match the contract to how long the device stays useful. Finance, or take a $1-buyout lease, on anything you will run for a decade: dental chairs, imaging, sterilizers, exam and procedure tables. Lease anything that dates fast, like EHR hardware, monitors, or a software-driven laser you expect to trade in a few years. The classic mistake is financing EHR hardware over seven years, because you will replace it in four and keep paying for the old box.
Is a manufacturer's 0% financing actually a good deal?
Sometimes, and sometimes not, and the only way to know is to get two numbers in writing: the cash price and the financed price. A true 0% where both prices match is hard to beat. But many vendors quote 0% only at full list while a cash buyer negotiates the price down, so the gap between the two is the real interest rate hiding inside the offer. Price an independent equipment loan against the cash number before you assume the 0% wins.
Does equipment financing cover installation and room shielding?
Often no. An equipment lender titles specific, removable machines. Lead-lined walls for an X-ray or CT room, the dedicated power and cooling, the network drops, install labor, and staff training are leasehold improvements and services attached to a building you may not own. Those soft costs usually fund through a term loan or cash. Ask before you sign, because a $200,000 quote that is really $160,000 of equipment and $40,000 of shielding and install gets financed two different ways.
Can I write off medical equipment the year I buy it?
Frequently, yes, and whether you finance it or pay cash. Equipment placed in service by December 31 can often be fully expensed that tax year under Section 179 and bonus depreciation, rather than depreciated over several years. The dollar limits sit far above a typical operatory or imaging purchase, so the real constraints are your taxable income and when the machine is actually running and seeing patients. Confirm the current-year figures with your CPA; IRS Publication 946 is the primary source.
How fast can medical equipment be funded?
Equipment financing is among the fastest business funding there is. A clean file with an itemized vendor quote funds in one to three business days, sometimes same day on a smaller ticket. The speed comes from what the lender skips: many equipment lenders want bank statements and the quote, not two years of tax returns. That one difference is most of why equipment paper funds in days while an SBA practice loan takes weeks.
Funding more than the machines? The SBA 504 versus equipment financing breakdown covers the large, long-life imaging deals and the building that equipment paper does not reach.
Quick Loans Direct is a lending marketplace, not a direct lender. Actual rates, terms, and approval decisions are made by our lending partners based on their individual underwriting criteria and vary by borrower, business profile, and product. Rates and disclosures may vary by state. California, New York, Virginia, Utah, Georgia, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, and several other states require specific commercial financing disclosures that your chosen lender will provide.
Every dollar figure on this page is illustrative arithmetic on generic figures, shown so you can re-run it with your own numbers. Equipment prices, lease structures, and lender pricing vary widely by specialty, vendor, and market. Payment figures are standard amortization calculations and exclude documentation fees, down payments, and tax, all of which change the real cost of capital. Tax treatment depends on your situation and the current-year rules.
This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, or legal advice. Consult a qualified professional before making business financing or tax decisions. Last reviewed by the Quick Loans Direct editorial team on November 2026.