As commercial lines of credit and business loans get harder and harder to qualify for, many medium and small medical practices and healthcare businesses are turning to medical factoring to help alleviate their slow cash flow.

Although many medical practices can still qualify for a business loan or line of credit, many are finding that traditional banking products don't always solve their cash flow concerns in the long term. Why? Well, traditional business loans have to be paid within a few years and lines of credit have fixed maximum limits. Basically, neither product is very flexible and both are hard to get, unless you run a medium sized medical practice.

Medical factoring presents an interesting financing alternative. It provides you with financing that is tied to your insurance claims. If you file more claims this month than last month, your financing goes up accordingly. It provides you with predictable cash flow, ensuring that you are able to meet your office expenses. You'll have predictable money to pay rent, meet payroll and invest in growth.

And, medical factoring is ideal for small medical offices. Although most factoring companies have minimums, many will finance an office that is billing as little as $50,000 (net) per month.

Medical factoring works as follows:

1. You submit your insurance and Medicare/Medicaid claims as usual. You send a copy to the factoring company

2. The factoring company advances you 70% to 85% of your net collectibles (the non advanced part works as a reserve to cover disputes/etc.). You can use the funds as you see fit

3. Once the medical factoring company gets paid, the transaction is settled.

Setting up a factoring account can take a couple of weeks, mostly because the medical factoring company will need to perform their due diligence and audits. However, once the account is set up, the financing is continuous. You can usually get your claims funded within 24 hours of submitting them to the factoring company.

If your small medical practice has slow cash flow but good growth prospects, then factoring may be the tool to help you finance your growth.