Business phone system for physician practices

Physician practices in the United States

County Business Patterns counted 204,617 physician practices in the U.S. in 2023 (NAICS 621111, Offices of Physicians (except Mental Health Specialists)). They employed 2,706,297 people in mid-March and paid $285.9 billion in annual payroll. The average establishment has 13.2 employees. That is 60.2 establishments for every 100,000 residents.

California has the most (29,615), followed by Texas (21,500), Florida (19,994), and New York (12,412). Relative to population, Florida leads with 85.5 per 100,000 residents, and North Dakota has the fewest at 20.8.

Why the phone matters for physician practices

Physician offices field a steady stream of scheduling, prescription refill and test-result calls, and the same few staff members usually answer all of them. Routing calls to the right person and capturing clear messages keeps the waiting room and the phone lines moving.

Calls physician practices commonly handle:

• A patient calls to request a prescription refill.
• A pharmacy calls to clarify a medication order.
• A patient calls asking whether lab results have arrived.
• The office calls patients to confirm tomorrow's appointments.
• A hospital discharge planner calls to schedule a follow-up visit.

Texting and after-hours calls

Practices typically text appointment reminders, arrival instructions and requests to call the office, keeping clinical details for secure channels.

After-hours callers need to hear clearly what to do in an emergency, and non-urgent messages need to be waiting, transcribed, for staff the next morning.

Practices that handle protected health information should review their own privacy obligations before recording calls, enabling AI summaries or texting appointment details, and keep clinical conversations out of text messages unless their policies allow it.

How big physician practices are

52.7% of U.S. physician practices with employees had fewer than five people in March 2023. 71.4% had fewer than ten. Most phone decisions in this industry are made for small teams, where one shared number and sensible routing matter more than a desk phone per person.

Physician practices by state

Establishment counts for the 51 states (and DC) where Census published a figure, with the rate per 100,000 residents.

Largest metro areas for physician practices

Census published medical practice counts for 911 metro and micropolitan areas. The 25 largest:

What a phone system costs a medical practice in the U.S.

The average U.S. medical practice has 13.2 employees, so the comparison uses a 13-person team. On a per-user plan that headcount sets the bill: $324.35 a month on Ooma Office Pro or $390.00 on RingCentral RingEX Core at list price (checked September 28, 2026). On Callata the same 13 people cost $259.00 a month, less than either per-seat plan.

The annual difference against RingCentral's monthly list price comes to $1,572. Some vendors discount annual contracts; the table shows month-to-month prices.

How Callata works for physician practices

For $99 a month, Callata puts a team of up to 5 on one plan ($20 for each person after that): up to 3 local numbers, unlimited inbound calls, a pooled allowance of 1,500 outbound US and Canada minutes per user, browser and cell calling, voicemail transcription with urgency triage, recorded calls with AI summaries and business-hours routing, with E911 on every number.

Existing numbers can be ported at no charge, and team texting turns on after the one-time $49 carrier registration (10DLC) is approved.

Optional AI agents (receptionist, sales, support or scheduler) can answer calls after hours or when nobody picks up, take messages, text, email and transfer to your team. They are billed from prepaid AI minutes at $0.25 per minute, identify themselves as AI, and may only place outbound calls to people who consented, between 8am and 9pm.