Finance for ophthalmologists

The typical arc runs training, then fellowship, then contracting into private practice, with a buy-in as the most common first step into ownership and partnership after that. Multi-site group practices are the norm: a group of partners across multiple sites, with a wider roster of ophthalmologists consulting sessionally, often across sub-specialties such as retina and glaucoma. The usual structure sees each ophthalmologist generate fees in their own name and pay a service fee to a practice entity that rents the rooms and employs the staff. That layering is normal, but it has to be presented properly: lenders who know the profession read the service-fee model as the strong, standard arrangement it is, and the lending is structured to match, from personal borrowing to the practice entity itself.

Equipment is the cost driver in ophthalmology. Surgical lasers are seven-figure purchases, OCT machines run to high five figures, and most of it depreciates over roughly 5 to 7 years with regular upgrade cycles, so a practice is never really finished buying. Fitouts are a substantial investment in their own right, partly because patient flow shapes the floor plan: patients move from reception to orthoptist-run imaging and screening rooms before they ever reach a consulting room, and the fitout has to be designed around that flow. The answer is finance matched to the asset: equipment lending structured to useful life and upgrade timing rather than a single loan that outlives the machine, and fitout finance sized to the build the patient flow demands.

There is little goodwill in specialist medicine, because referrals follow the doctor rather than the brand on the door. Buy-ins therefore tend to be priced on partnership equity, premises and equipment rather than goodwill. That changes what lenders are securing against, and it rewards preparation. That can mean buying into a practice that has not yet opened its doors, with specialist lenders assessing the strength of the profession and the people behind it rather than a trading history, or a younger specialist purchasing the premises and equipment of a retiring ophthalmologist with no goodwill component in the price. Both are normal ophthalmology transactions; they just need a lender, and a specialist, who has seen them before.

Home. Up to 95% LVR with no LMI on home lending for eligible medical professionals.
Car. Personal or practice vehicles, structured to suit.
Commercial premises. Owner-occupied practice premises at up to 100% of the purchase price or valuation.
Fitout. Designed and financed around the real patient flow: reception, orthoptist imaging and screening, then consulting.
Equipment. Lasers, OCT and imaging, structured to asset life and upgrade cycles.
Eligibility, rates and terms depend on your circumstances and lender criteria. Not financial advice.

Plenty of our clients talk to us long before a loan exists: weighing a practice purchase, planning a fitout, or working out what their career unlocks. That early thinking costs nothing and is some of the most valuable work we do. And when you are ready to move, it runs like this:
1. Today: talk to a specialist. A short call on your situation and goals. No credit check, no cost.
2. Within 48 hours: your lending strategy. Which lenders fit your stage and structure, what you can borrow, what it costs.
3. Application to approval. We package, submit and chase. Timing depends on the lender and the deal, and you will always know where things stand.
4. Approval to settlement. We coordinate through to completion, and stay your specialist for the loans that come after.