By: Dr. Tamara Patzer
A medical practice with a front desk, billing staff, nurses and a handful of clinicians can reach 15 employees quickly. That is the entry line Mode lists for medical businesses, well below the 50 it sets for most others. Mode buys agreed copies of company-owned operating records for AI research and training, and its public guidelines suggest that many practices and clinics may be in range.
Key Takeaways
- Mode lists 15 employees as the minimum for medical businesses, against 50 for most other businesses and nonprofits.
- About 125,263 U.S. health care services companies had 10 or more employees in 2021, according to Census Bureau survey data published by the National Science Foundation.
- The American Medical Association reports that 47.4 percent of physicians worked in practices of 10 or fewer physicians in 2024, down from 61.4 percent in 2012.
- Patient information is the central issue, and any practice should take its own privacy and legal advice before sharing anything.
- Payment is not ensured, and the company calls its estimates “indicative only.”
How Many Health Care Companies Are in Range
The National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, using the Census Bureau’s Annual Business Survey, counted 469,939 health care services companies in 2021. That category covers offices of physicians, dentists and other practitioners, outpatient centers, labs, home health and similar providers, along with hospitals and nursing facilities. The size bands were:
- 1 to 9 employees: 344,673 companies
- 10 to 49 employees: 105,017 companies
- 50 to 249 employees: 17,819 companies
- 250 or more employees: 2,427 companies
Companies with 10 or more employees therefore number 125,263. Mode’s line is 15, and the survey does not break out that exact point, so the count of companies at 15 or more is lower than 125,263 by an amount this article cannot state. Companies with 50 or more employees, who meet the general line, number 20,246. Not every health care company is a medical business in Mode’s sense, and Mode’s team decides eligibility.
Practices Are Getting Bigger
The trend favors the size line. The American Medical Association’s Physician Practice Benchmark Survey found that the share of physicians working in practices of 10 or fewer physicians fell from 61.4 percent in 2012 to 47.4 percent in 2024. A practice with 10 physicians typically has many more employees than that, once nurses, medical assistants, billing and front-office staff are counted. Practices that have grown through hiring or mergers may be larger than their owners realize.
What Mode Says It Wants
Mode lists these kinds of company-owned operating records:
- Email and documents
- Chat messages
- Calls and transcripts
- Customer relationship management data
- Billing and operations records
Several years of records strengthen an application, according to Mode, and the company must be based in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom or Australia. For a practice, the administrative side, such as scheduling, supply orders, vendor email and billing operations, is a different category from clinical records. What is in scope would be set in a written agreement. Mode’s eligibility rules describe the application steps.
Patient Privacy Comes First
Patient information is protected by federal and state law, and a practice is responsible for how it handles it. Mode says it removes sensitive material and removes or transforms personal identifiers before onward delivery. Mode’s description does not say how it applies to any specific practice’s records, so the practice should ask for those details in writing and review them with a health care attorney or compliance officer. The Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz law firm wrote on Oct. 6, 2026, that holding data does not automatically mean having the right to sell it. This article is not legal advice.
Questions Practice Administrators Are Likely to Ask
Would patient charts be part of the deal?
Mode’s public list names operating records such as email, documents, chat, calls and billing data. What is included is set in a written agreement, and a practice decides with its own counsel what to propose.
Does a 15-person practice qualify?
It meets the published size line for medical businesses. Mode’s team makes the final decision after reviewing size, history and systems.
How long does it take?
Mode generally expects about three months from first conversation to payment.
Price and Process
- The company’s team shares size, history and systems with Mode.
- Mode’s team reviews the offer, and the company approves scope, value, terms and date ranges.
- Mode exports and de-identifies the agreed copy and pays under the written terms.
The headline range is $100K to $5M, and Mode’s page labels the calculator “indicative only.” Mode says it charges no broker fee. A practice can try Mode’s estimate tool, keeping in mind that an estimate is not a warranty offer.
Who Should Be in the Room
A decision about sharing practice records is rarely one person’s call. The administrator knows which systems hold scheduling, supply orders and billing operations. The billing manager knows how many years of history exist. A health care attorney or compliance officer can say what the practice’s patient privacy notices and vendor contracts allow. Mode’s page says it agrees the systems and date ranges with the company before any export, which gives that group time to weigh in before anything is shared.
The page also describes a process in which the company approves the scope, including value, terms, systems and date ranges, and then signs in to approved systems with no passwords handed over. The company keeps its original records and systems, and a written agreement sets the amount, the payment schedule, and the rights and restrictions. Mode generally expects about three months from first conversation to payment, so a practice may want to schedule the internal conversation well ahead of any decision. If your medical business has 15 or more employees, you may qualify. Read the guidelines, ask your advisers and apply only if it fits.
Before Applying
An administrator can answer five questions in an afternoon: how many people are on payroll, which systems hold administrative records, how many years of history exist, which vendor contracts limit sharing, and what privacy notices patients and staff have received. Practices that want the buyer’s own description can read Mode’s company data page and bring questions to their advisers. Even a practice that decides not to proceed ends up with a clearer inventory of its records.
Dr. Tamara Patzer is a publisher and former newspaper editor who writes about AI and business data.
You may reach her through: info@dailysuccessinstitute.com
Sources (all read November 7, 2026)
- Mode, company data page and eligibility rules (ai.mode.inc)
- National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, “Table 35: Companies, by company size and industry: 2021,” from the Census Bureau’s Annual Business Survey
- American Medical Association, “Smaller share of doctors in private practice than ever before,” reporting the 2024 Physician Practice Benchmark Survey
- Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, via Mondaq, “Selling Company Data for AI Training: What to Know Before You Say Yes,” Oct. 6, 2026
Disclaimer: The author is a referral partner of Mode. This article is information, not a promise of money, and not legal advice.
