Medical startup Sword Health announces AI that patients can talk to

Sword Health, a pain management startup, announced on Tuesday a new artificial intelligence solution called Phoenix, with which patients can seek guidance through virtual physical therapy sessions.

Sword, founded in 2015, provides digital tools to help patients manage pain at home while avoiding other treatments such as opioids and surgery. According to CEO Virgílio Bento, Phoenix provides a more human-like experience than the company’s previous AI products.

Phoenix is intended to replicate the work of a care specialist. Bento believes patients should feel as if they have a physical therapist in their home. Patients can communicate directly with Phoenix about their feelings, and the new “specialist” can respond, provide feedback, and adjust the difficulty and duration of the session in real time.

Sword patients participate in sessions using a company-provided tablet that tracks their movements. Bento stated that Phoenix tracks their progress and, after each session, summarizes their performance data and sends it to one of Sword’s human clinicians for evaluation.

Bento stated that Sword’s AI can currently analyze movement and provide basic feedback, whereas Phoenix is more conversational. Bento added that Phoenix’s ability to analyze patient data and generate recommendations enables the company’s clinicians to work more efficiently.

Phoenix will suggest changes for the patient’s next session, as well as send a follow-up message about the session they completed. Bento stated that a human clinician decides whether to accept, reject, or edit those recommendations. Phoenix makes no decisions on its own because Sword’s clinicians have the authority to determine which exercises are appropriate for a patient.

“This is health care, so you will always need that final approval,” Bento explained in an interview. “We have strong guardrails in terms of how we do things.”

Patients can enroll in Sword if it is covered by their employer or health plan. Sword has already conducted over 3 million AI-powered sessions with patients, according to a press release issued Tuesday. Bento stated that while the company has traditionally focused on business customers, it would like to make its solutions available to everyone.

Sword also announced on Tuesday that it had raised $100 million in a secondary offering to provide liquidity to current and former employees, as well as early investors. Bento stated that the company expects to be profitable this year, but it raised an additional $30 million through a primary sale to update its valuation.

The company has raised $340 million and is valued at $3 billion, according to the release. It was valued at $2 billion by late 2021.

According to Sword, the round included a mix of new and existing investors, some of whom preferred not to be identified. Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, and General Catalyst have already invested in the company.

Sword has been testing Phoenix with a few patients using its “Thrive” digital physical therapy solution. Bento stated that the company will continue to roll it out to more patients within Thrive and across its other offerings, including its pelvic health solution, “Bloom,” in the coming months.