On June 4, 2024, Sword Health, a startup focused on pain management, unveiled an innovative artificial intelligence solution named Phoenix, designed to enhance virtual physical therapy sessions. Founded in 2015, Sword Health aims to empower patients to manage their pain from home, reducing reliance on opioids and surgical interventions. While the company has integrated AI into its offerings since inception, CEO Virgilio Bento emphasized that Phoenix provides a more human-like interaction for users.
Phoenix functions as a virtual care specialist, allowing patients to engage in real-time conversations about their conditions. This AI system can respond to patient inquiries, adjust the complexity and duration of therapy sessions, and provide immediate feedback. Patients utilize a tablet equipped with movement-tracking technology, enabling Phoenix to monitor their progress and summarize performance data for review by human clinicians after each session.
Bento noted that while Sword’s existing AI can analyze movement and deliver basic feedback, Phoenix enhances the conversational aspect, thereby improving patient interaction and clinician efficiency. The AI generates recommendations for subsequent sessions, which human clinicians review and approve, ensuring that the final decisions regarding patient care remain with qualified professionals.
In conjunction with the launch of Phoenix, Sword Health announced a successful funding round, raising $100 million in a secondary sale and an additional $30 million in a primary sale, bringing total funding to $340 million and increasing the company’s valuation to $3 billion. The company has conducted over three million AI-powered sessions and aims to expand its services beyond business clients to a broader audience. Phoenix will initially be rolled out within Sword’s “Thrive” program and later across other offerings, including the pelvic health solution “Bloom”
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