Despite what many outsiders might think, medical practices aren’t always flush with cash.

Doctors and physicians can run into cash flow problems for a variety of reasons. Here are some of them:

• Money may get tight when they’re renovating offices and exam rooms.
• Unplanned business expenses may materialize, making it difficult to make payroll or settle bills promptly.
• Doctors may need to invest in new revolutionary technologies to deliver better care.
• A patient may decide to file a lawsuit for malpractice, causing a doctor to incur legal fees even if there’s not much basis for the claim to begin with.

The list goes on and on.

For these reasons and many others, doctors and physicians are increasingly forced to find outside funding to keep their doors open. As a result, many of them have turned to small business loans, which are available through a variety of lenders.

Physicians are increasingly making use of small business loans. According to recent data, theSmall Business Administration gave doctors less than $60 million in funding in 2000. By 2011, that number had skyrocketed to more than $675 million—an impressive 10-fold increase over 11 years.

Those numbers alone should show just how helpful small business loans can be to physicians. But unfortunately, because more and more physicians and other small business owners are turning to the SBA for funding, it’s becoming harder and harder to receive financing from them; there’s only a finite amount of money to go around, after all. What’s more, the SBA is unlikely to give loans to newer practices. Beyond that, physicians will also have a harder time securing a loan if they have bad credit scores, aren’t willing to personally guarantee the loan, or don’t have enough collateral to put up.

Since doctors don’t exactly have a ton of time to deal with what can be an arduous, time-consuming application process that may very well be in vain in the first place, many of them are turning to other alternative forms of financing available through third-party lenders—and they’re liking what they see.

By securing small business physician loans through alternative lenders, doctors get the peace of mind that comes with knowing they’ll be able to take care of their staff and provide great care to their patients for the foreseeable future. As opposed to loans secured through the SBA or traditional financial institutions, alternative physician loans provide doctors with a variety of benefits:

• The application process is painless and quick. You don’t have to fill out an enormous amount of paperwork to secure financing. Fill out one form quickly, and you’re on your way to getting a small business loan.

• There’s no need to put up any collateral or a personal guarantee. If your practice fails for whatever reason, your personal assets won’t be on the hook to repay the loan. If things get tight, you don’t have to worry about your car getting repoed, for example.

• Have bad credit? Not a problem. Terms and funding are both based on your practice’s performance, not how you handle your personal finances.

• You can shop a lot of lenders quickly. Thanks to consumer comparison services, it’s easier than ever to compare the rates offered by many different lenders in a matter of minutes. You’ll have no problem finding the loan that offers the most favorable terms for your specific situation.

• Funds are deposited into your account within a matter of days. It takes about 3-6 months to secure financing through a traditional banking institution. But if you need money today, that’s not really going to help you. Thanks to small business loans obtained via third-party lenders, physicians can get access to the funds they need to grow their practices within a few days.

Instead of waiting for cash flow problems to appear before trying to figure out how to solve them, apply for a small business loan today. That way, you’ll be able to grow your practice and deliver even better care to your patients for some time to come. Good luck!