Sword Health Launches AI Assistant for Payers and Providers, Expands Beyond Musculoskeletal Care

Sword Health, a company renowned for its virtual physical therapy and mental health services, has introduced a new AI assistant specifically designed for payers and providers to tackle operational and administrative challenges within the healthcare sector. This new AI division, named Sword Intelligence, marks a substantial expansion from Sword Health's established offerings, which encompass digital musculoskeletal (MSK) care, pelvic health, and movement health. "Sword Intelligence allows us to move beyond delivering care to our own members to enabling the entire healthcare industry to scale it efficiently and effectively," stated Virgilio "V" Bento, founder and CEO of Sword Health. Sword Health's AI solutions have undergone rigorous internal testing, where AI care manager agents have proven effective in streamlining non-clinical workflows. These tasks include enrollment, triage, eligibility verification, and outreach to high-risk members. These AI tools currently manage care for over half a million members, demonstrating significant efficiency gains.

AI Care Management for Healthcare

Initially developed to address Sword Health's internal operational hurdles, Sword Intelligence now provides modular AI care managers designed for integration with existing human teams and infrastructure. This capability allows external organizations—including payers, providers, and government entities—to scale their care delivery operations while simultaneously enhancing efficiency and reducing costs. Bento elaborated, "Managing and coordinating care for more than 600,000 patient members across multiple programs and referrals is labor-intensive and hard to scale using humans alone. We realized other healthcare organizations face the same challenge, and demand for healthcare is increasing faster than the ability to serve it."

Expansion Beyond Virtual MSK Care

Sword Health's journey began with a focus on virtual musculoskeletal care, and it has since broadened its scope to include pelvic and movement health. In June 2025, the company launched an AI-driven mental health care model, coinciding with a $40 million funding round. Earlier, in June 2024, Sword Health secured $130 million in financing, elevating its valuation to $4 billion. Currently, Sword Health serves over 1,000 enterprise clients. Since 2020, more than 600,000 members across three continents have completed 7 million AI sessions. The company asserts that its virtual care solutions have generated nearly $1 billion in savings on unnecessary healthcare costs and are supported by over 40 clinical studies that highlight improved outcomes, including reduced MSK pain and increased productivity.

Innovative AI Technology

Last year, Sword Health introduced Phoenix, a technology that integrates AI with human clinicians to guide patients through sessions via natural conversation. Phoenix continues to be instrumental in providing direct patient care. Operating as a startup within Sword Health, Sword Intelligence boasts its own dedicated team, strategic roadmap, and go-to-market strategy targeting a wider array of healthcare areas beyond its initial digital physical therapy focus. The AI solutions are modular, prioritize safety, and are built for seamless integration with existing systems, adhering to HIPAA, HITRUST, and SOC 2 compliance standards.

Competitive Advantage in Healthcare AI

While the healthcare AI landscape is increasingly competitive, Bento emphasizes Sword Health's unique positioning: "Many vendors either understand AI but not healthcare, or know healthcare but lack deep AI expertise. Sword Health has been iteratively developing AI through actual patient care, learning how to engage patients, coordinate care, and navigate complex workflows." Sword Health's AI solutions are not off-the-shelf products. Their engineering teams collaborate closely with clients to customize solutions that integrate smoothly into existing workflows. Bento highlighted the company's commitment to a partnership approach: "We want governments and payers to come to us with unsolvable scalability problems, and together develop bespoke AI solutions that work from day one."

Outlook and IPO Plans

With the growing momentum of digital health IPOs, exemplified by Hinge Health and Omada Health going public in 2025, Sword Health is considered a strong candidate for an IPO. Bento has previously indicated that the company is considering a public offering, with expectations for it to occur no earlier than the second half of 2025.

Source: Originally published at Fierce Healthcare on July 29, 2025.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

About Sword Health's AI Expansion

Q: What is Sword Intelligence? A: Sword Intelligence is the new AI division of Sword Health, focused on developing and deploying AI-powered solutions to address operational and administrative challenges across the healthcare industry for payers and providers. Q: What are the core services of Sword Health? A: Sword Health's core services include virtual physical therapy, mental health services, digital musculoskeletal (MSK) care, pelvic health, and movement health. Q: How does Sword Intelligence benefit payers and providers? A: Sword Intelligence offers AI care managers that help scale care delivery, improve efficiency, and reduce costs by streamlining administrative tasks such as enrollment, triage, eligibility verification, and member outreach. Q: Has Sword Health used AI internally before launching Sword Intelligence? A: Yes, Sword Health extensively tested its AI care manager agents internally to manage workflows and care for over half a million members before expanding these solutions to the broader healthcare industry. Q: What is the "Phoenix" technology developed by Sword Health? A: Phoenix is a technology that combines AI and human clinicians to guide patients through sessions using natural conversation, continuing to support direct patient care. Q: What is Sword Health's strategy for developing bespoke AI solutions? A: Sword Health aims to partner with governments and payers facing scalability issues, collaborating to develop customized AI solutions that are effective from their initial deployment. Q: What compliance standards do Sword Health's AI solutions meet? A: Sword Health's AI solutions are designed to be modular, safety-first, and integrate seamlessly with existing systems, meeting HIPAA, HITRUST, and SOC 2 compliance standards.

Crypto Market AI's Take

Sword Health's strategic expansion into providing AI solutions for the broader healthcare industry, through its new division Sword Intelligence, mirrors a growing trend in technology companies leveraging their core AI expertise to address complex, large-scale operational challenges. In the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, particularly in sectors like healthcare and finance, companies that can demonstrate a proven track record of developing and implementing effective AI solutions internally are well-positioned to lead. This move signifies a sophisticated understanding of how AI can automate and optimize administrative workflows, akin to how AI is transforming financial services operations. As AI capabilities advance, their application in streamlining complex processes, from healthcare administration to market analysis, will become increasingly crucial. The success of such ventures often hinges on the ability to integrate these AI agents seamlessly with existing infrastructure, ensuring both efficiency and compliance, much like the development of robust AI agents for business automation.

Sword Health launches new AI assistant for payers, providers as it expands beyond MSK care