Medical Equipment
Featured Articles:
How to Purchase Much Needed Medical Equipment Without
Spending Your Own Money
by: Anthony Ferlazzo
We are enjoying the fruits of the exponential growth rate of medical
equipment technology. The medical community may now offer diagnoses
based on information about a patient’s condition that we couldn’t
accurately obtain using older equipment. The problem is that most
organizations capital budgets just can’t keep pace with the
quickening of technology advances.
The problem is getting worse
If you’re like most medical care providers, you are facing the
dilemma of how to provide cutting-edge care to your patients but
don’t have the financial reserves (cash or credit) to make the
purchase of new equipment. One could argue that it is economics that
slows down the delivery of medical care. Standard accounting
practices allow for the assets to be depreciated over five years.
What do you do when the equipment needs to be replaced in some
amount of time less than five years? One option is to try selling
the outdated equipment on eBay or somewhere else in the open market.
There’s another solution
There is another option that many astute organizations use. The
simply lease the equipment. Why lease? It’s all about cash-flow.
Typical leasing standards require you to put just 20% down in cash,
and there are some rather nimble leasing companies that will allow
you to write 100% of the cost of the equipment as operating costs on
your firm’s balance sheet. By treating the asset as an operating
expense you don’t have to deal with depreciation on the leased
medical equipment. Plus the lease does not show up on your credit
report, possibly freeing you to make other necessary purchases.
Is leasing for you?
While most organizations need to be in business for at least 3
years, savvy shoppers can find leasing companies that have no
time-in-business requirements. And even without documenting your
financials you should be able to enter into leases up to $150,000.
By providing a bit of financial information, you can lease items
with a much higher dollar figure.
Does this sound like a viable option?
Typical lease terms are two to five years, and are affected by the
typical useful life of the item you are leasing for your business.
Some leasing companies have the flexibility to buy back newly
acquired equipment assets and convert them into leases. Do you
normally pay shipping, installation, training and other soft costs
on top of the actually hardware? You can search out leasing
companies that will include these items in the lease. Have a lease
with unfavorable terms? Most do not know it, but you can actually
“refinance” leases into one with more favorable terms.
If you’re strapped for cash, or just want to conserve it for other
business purposes, leasing will enable you to obtain a much needed
piece of business (medical or otherwise) equipment without a large
outlay of cash.
About The Author
Anthony Ferlazzo is a certified commercial mortgage expert. In
addition to providing the medical community with financing, his
company, Pronto Commercial Funding
(http://www.prontocommercial.com), offers unparalleled equipment
leasing and receivable factoring solutions for hospitals. urgent
care, medical and dental offices and condominiums, and other
commercial facilities. See why 'We close everyday projects that
banks turned away.'
The Right Medical Equipment For You Home Or Practice!
by: Mike Yeager
Quality, dependable Medical Equipment is an important component of
every medical practice. It can’t be overstated that while the
practice of medicine is an art, Medical Equipment is the science
behind the implementation of that art. Increasingly, patients are
becoming more sophisticated in their understanding of the medical
supplies and Medical Equipment that is being used to treat them.
This means that a health care provider needs to know and understand
not only how their equipment operates, but also have confidence that
the Medical Equipment they use is of the highest quality.
Your Medical Equipment needs to be reliable and of a high quality.
The tools of your profession, whether it’s a stethoscope or a
nebulizer, can now all be ordered online over the internet,
generally at substantial savings. This means an easier approach to
Medical Equipment management.
Both the professional and home health consumer are now ordering many
of their Medical Equipment and medical supplies right from their
computer. Prices are low and the quality is excellent. If you work
in the health care field you'll need medical supplies to help you
with your work. Quality products that you know you can depend on
will give you greater confidence during stressful situations.
About The Author
Mike Yeager
Publisher
http://www.a1-medical-supplies-4u.com/
mjy610@hotmail.com
Refinance Medical Equipment to Offset Reductions in
Medicare Payments
by: Kent Harlan, CPA
Healthcare providers, particularly those with a large mix of
Medicare related transactions, are in for a cash and profit squeeze.
Refinancing existing medical and office equipment leases can be a
way to ease the pressure. According to AMA President Jeremy Lazarus,
45% of physicians in the American Medical Association plan to
decrease or stop the acceptance of new Medicare beneficiaries if
Congress does not act to stop a 5% decrease in Medicare payments.
These payment reductions are scheduled to go into effect in 2007.
According to Lazerus "Over the next nine years, Medicare will cut
physician payments 37%, unless Congress acts before January 1,
2007", adding, "at the same time, the cost of caring for those
patients will increase 22%, and that math just doesn't add up". The
cuts, which would reduce payments by $2.8 billion over five years,
are included in a 2006 deficit reduction package.
Should the projected cuts hold up, providers will need to become
more operationally and financially efficient. One way to offset the
decreased cash flow is to refinance equipment. Many providers are
making very large monthly payments because they have opted to
execute four or even three year leases. There are now medical
equipment financing options available that can spread those payments
out over a 96 month period. For example, a physician needed $500,000
of equipment to start his practice and signed a 48 lease. Payments
on the lease, assuming an 8% interest rate, would be approximately
$12,200 per month. If that equipment were refinanced at the
beginning of year two, the balance would be approximately $380,000.
Refinancing that balance over 96 months would result in payments of
$5,400 per month, a cash savings of $6,800 per month or $81,600 per
year.
The provider should carefully review the equipment being used to
determine if he is a good candidate for long term refinancing or
even buying new equipment for longer amortizations. If the medical
equipment is likely to withstand an onslaught of technical advances,
a refinancing could be the ticket to helping offset the specter of
Medicare payment deductions.
About The Author
Kent Harlan has been a CPA since 1984 and has provided consulting,
accounting and financial services to several industries. He is the
owner of Ozarks Capital Funding, LLC, a Springfield, MO based
company offering financing in the areas of accounts receivable
factoring, equipment leasing, asset based lending, and healthcare
provider financing.
Website: http://www.ocflink.com