For the more than 120 million adults suffering from
MSK conditions are currently the top driver of
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Services from Sword Health, which provides digital and virtual physical therapy, have led to a cost-savings of more than $3,000 per member each year and a 301.2% ROI for employer clients, according to an independent audit by Risk Strategies Consulting. Not only does virtual care reduce wasteful spending on things like unnecessary procedures, ER visits and surgeries, patients also saw a reduction in affiliated chronic disorders, like depression, which impacts 50% of those with chronic pain.
"There's a practical relationship here," says Sword Health CEO Virgilio Bento. "By fixing the physical pain, which is the root cause of the problem, we see a massive impact on mental health."
Sword provides physical therapy for back, muscle, joint and pelvic MSK issues. One of its goals is to mimic the tech and automotive industry and apply it to a healthcare setting: By building machines and programs that can absorb human work, people can oversee the process, eventually cutting down costs.
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Sword's recently-released AI Care Specialist, Phoenix, is an example of this strategy: Patients can participate in physical therapy sessions at home while wearing a monitor that records their movements, engages them in a dialogue to assess their progress, and offers suggestions and motivation. Patient history and recommendations are built into the app, and provided to the patient's clinician after each session. After using Sword, 62% of its members who started with moderate to severe pain report mild to no pain by the end of their program.
"Our focus has been how to use technology and AI to shift the workload from clinician to machine, and we have better access and higher clinical outcomes," says Bento. "Alongside our AI, there are clinicians providing a human touch and working as a checks and balances for the AI system, providing holistic [care to] the patient."
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Because MSK conditions are so pervasive and can affect anyone regardless of age, job type or health status, employers should consider benefits that provide MSK support as a core part of their healthcare offerings, says Bento, noting the platform has equal utilization from blue collar and white collar populations.
"[Employers] are delivering a solution that their population really needs," he says. "It provides a much better experience because [people] have recovery at home where it's convenient, comfortable and flexible."
