From the October 2011 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
Role of creative financing
To help hospitals and other health care facilities take full advantage of the opportunities offered by Section 179, financial institutions are focusing on providing leasing programs with increased flexibility.
Some options, says Ray Russell, general manager, marketing and corporate accounts at Agfa-Gevaert Group, include delaying the first payment for up to six months and providing operational leases that link payment to usage. “We can even offer a seasonal lease in states like Florida and Arizona, where the population level varies. We can structure a lease in just about any way a customer wants.”
For health care providers thinking in terms of deploying capital, projects can become a choice between one acquisition or another, notes ELFA. However, one of the benefits of equipment finance is the ability to spread the cost over time. So if EMR is a priority, for instance, it doesn’t mean having to postpone adding or replacing medical equipment elsewhere in the facility.
“In general, we are finding that organizations like to have as low an upfront cost as possible,” says Russell. “We try to provide a predictable cash flow – and be as creative as possible in leasing.” And it’s working.
Leasing prognosis: good
Experts in the field anticipate this trend in growth of medical equipment financing to continue, even beyond the Section 179 changes.
Members of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association, for instance, anticipate very strong – and positive – equipment leasing opportunities in the medical arena, according to a survey by ELFA. Indeed, EFLA, as an organization, feels that this finding highlights the medical industry’s preference for leased equipment.
DOTmed Registered Leasing and Finance - 2011 Companies
Names in boldface are Premium Listings.
Domestic
Sonia Karnes, Sharpe Financial Network, AZ
Alan Ross, Quail Equipment Leasing & Financing, CA
John Gladstein, Medical Device Depot, MD
DOTmed Certified
David McAndrews, Block Imaging International, MI
DOTmed 100
Russell Abramson, Sterling Capital Leasing, NY
John Caulfield, Forum Financial Services, Inc., TX
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