Patient using Sword Health.
Courtesy: Sword Health
Pain treatment startup Sword Health on Tuesday announced a new AI solution called Phoenix that patients can talk to for guidance through virtual physical therapy sessions.
Sword, founded in 2015, offers digital tools to help patients manage pain from home and avoid other treatments such as opioids and surgery. The company has used AI in its products since its launch, but CEO Virgílio Bento told CNBC that Phoenix offers users a more human experience.
Phoenix is designed to replicate the work of a care specialist. Bento said patients should feel like they have a physical therapist within their homes. Patients can talk directly to Phoenix about how they're feeling, and the new “specialist” can respond, offer feedback, and adjust the difficulty and length of the session in real time.
Sword patients participate in sessions using a company tablet that can track their movements. Bento said that Phoenix monitors his progress and, after each session, summarizes his performance data and sends it to one of Sword's human doctors for review.
Bento said Sword's AI is currently capable of analyzing movement and providing simple feedback, but Phoenix is more conversational. Phoenix's ability to analyze patient data and generate recommendations also helps the company's doctors operate more efficiently, Bento added.
Phoenix will propose changes for the patient's next session, as well as a follow-up message about the session they completed. Bento said a human doctor decides whether to accept, reject or edit those recommendations. Sword's doctors have authority over what exercises are appropriate for a patient, so Phoenix does not make any decisions independently.
“This is health care, so you will always need that final approval,” Bento said in an interview. “We have strong barriers in terms of how we do things.”
Patients can enroll in Sword if supported by their employer or health plan. Sword has already conducted more than 3 million AI-powered sessions with patients, according to a statement Tuesday. Bento said the company has focused on enterprise customers, but would like to make its solutions available to everyone.
Sword also said Tuesday that it raised $100 million in a secondary sale to provide liquidity to current and former employees and early investors. Bento said the company expects it will be profitable this year, but raised an additional $30 million in a primary sale to update its valuation.
The company has raised a total of $340 million and is valued at $3 billion, according to the statement. It was valued at $2 billion at the end of 2021.
Sword said the round involved a mix of new and existing investors, some of whom did not want to be named. Venture firms such as Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund and General Catalyst have previously invested in the company.
Sword has been testing Phoenix with some patients using its digital physical therapy product “Thrive.” Bento said the company will continue to roll it out to more patients within Thrive and in other offerings, including its pelvic health solution called “Bloom,” over the coming months.
