DOTmed Industry Sector Report: Leasing and Finance in Medicine

by Barbara Kram, Editor | December 26, 2007

financial packages that the OEMs in turn present to the client hospital; independent lessors also document deals to sell to the banks. What's more, boutique leasing companies offer some creative solutions and finance smaller transactions.

"A lot of our proposals are of a structured nature versus a level payment," said Dex Dean, president, Coastal Leasing, Inc., Fort Lauderdale, FL. "We do an awful lot of structured financing to meet cash flow requirements of the end-users, such as no payments for a certain period of time or small payments for the first 12 months, or step-up payments."

Another example of specialty leasing comes from Corporate Capital Services, Inc., Hauppauge, NY. "We offer a far-reaching trade-in technology program which gives the client the ability to upgrade the system at almost no penalty," said vice president Harvey Shaw. "In one case, a client has $1-2 million in equipment requirements each year and we gave them the ability to roll in and roll out new equipment."

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Another nimble lessor, Strada Capital Corporation, Irvine, CA, focuses on transactions in the $50,000 range, although they also finance much larger leases. Since the company plays in many industries, they are in a position to treat medical transactions very favorably. "We love our medical portfolio. We're able to structure programs for the medical industry where that same equipment cost in a different industry would have a tougher time with higher rates and more documentation needed for approval," said Matthew Klahorst, Director of Marketing. "We've found that our medical portfolio outperforms a lot of other industries."

Ambassador Financial's Frodge concludes, "What sets us apart is we are offering a consultative approach to the hospital." So Frodge asks about deploying equipment, applications, lifecycles and whether the hospital wants to own it, or refresh it every three or four years. "Every deal is different," he said, "because we are structuring around the needs of the client."