Stroudwater Associates Partners with Greater Commercial Lending to Help Rural Healthcare Businesses Fund High Impact Projects

Stroudwater Associates, the nation’s leading source of strategic, operational, and financial strategy for rural, community and county-district owned hospitals, announced today a joint venture with Greater Commercial Lending (GCL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Greater Nevada Credit Union, recognized as one of the nation’s leading USDA lenders, to help rural healthcare businesses access USDA guaranteed loans. The new partnership will be known as StroudwaterGCL Rural Healthcare Capital.

The joint venture combines Stroudwater Associates’ expertise in rural healthcare planning, financial improvement, and strategy with Greater Commercial Lending’s expertise in USDA healthcare lending.

“Every day we fight alongside rural hospitals to help them identify opportunities to provide the best care for their communities, but access to affordable capital often stalls those high impact projects,” said Stroudwater Associates’ Board Chair Eric Shell. “Previously, lenders avoided lending to rural healthcare because of perceived risk. With GCL as a partner, we can now help clients access capital with very attractive terms and diversify risk by bringing bonding capacity at a fraction of the cost to the community. GCL is one of the best organizations in the country that has managed that structure.”

Historically, rural hospitals and health systems had a hard time accessing capital at a fast and affordable rate. This new partnership will provide improved access to low-cost, credit-enhanced capital for funding high-impact rural health investment in new replacement facilities and renovations and expansions. Additionally, rural hospitals will have the option of refinancing existing debt to create savings and enable reinvestment of capital expense into operations.

The USDA Community Facilities program is attractive for its low interest rates and long amortization (up to 40 years). The application process can be complicated. Having GCL, the top ranked USDA Business & Industry Guaranteed Loan Program lender in the U.S. over the last year, and Stroudwater, the nation’s leading strategic advisor to rural hospitals and health systems, on the same team brings an unrivalled track record, capabilities, and expertise to every rural hospital and health system.

“Stroudwater understands the impact we can make in rural communities by bringing Wall Street buying power to Main Street healthcare,” said GCL Executive Vice President Jeremy Gilpin. “Their mission has always been to level the playing field with strategy and operational expertise. Our partnership now brings the nation’s leading USDA lender and its capabilities to the table, leveling the playing field for accessing capital for rural hospitals and health systems.”

“Our vision is to reinvent rural healthcare. The ability to invest in needed infrastructure with innovative and efficient facilities and reinvigorate these rural health systems with long-term investments will improve the health of the communities they serve,” added Shell.

To learn more about the joint venture, visit: https://stroudwatergcl.com/

About Stroudwater Associates
Founded in 1985, Stroudwater Associates is a leading national healthcare consulting firm with offices in Nashville, and Portland, Maine. We focus on strategic, operational, and financial areas where our perspective offers the highest value for rural hospitals, community hospitals, healthcare systems, and large physician groups. Stroudwater is made up of clinicians, managers, corporate officers, investment bankers, financial analysts, and content specialists with deep domain expertise. To learn more about Stroudwater Associates, please visit stroudwater.com.

About Greater Commercial Lending
Greater Commercial Lending (GCL) builds long-lasting business partnerships that help communities thrive. GCL provides commercial lending services to diverse entities across the U.S. GCL is a credit union service organization (CUSO) established in 2017 operating as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Greater Nevada Credit Union (GNCU), based in Carson City, Nev. The USDA identified GCL as the number one Business and Industry lender in 2020. GCL is recognized consistently ranked among the top producers for both USDA and SBA guaranteed loan programs. For more information, call (833) 519-9474 or visit greatercommerciallending.com.