$3 billion startup Sword Health cuts some physical therapists as it ramps up AI to treat more patients

• Sword Health cut a portion of its physical therapists last month, the company confirmed to BI.
• The startup aims to use AI to help increase the number of patients its physical therapists care for.
• Sword, which hit a $3 billion valuation earlier this year, could go public as soon as 2025.

Sword Health has made cuts to its clinical workforce as the $3 billion startup seeks to manage more patients with the help of AI, Business Insider has learned.

Last month, the startup, which provides virtual care for conditions such as muscle and joint pain, let go of 13 of its physical therapists who were treating patients, Sword confirmed to Business Insider.

Three former employees who spoke with BI on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution said Sword previously had about 75 physical therapists actively caring for patients, which puts the October cuts at about 17% of Sword’s treatment-facing clinicians.

The layoffs come as Sword seeks to use AI to enable its physical therapists to treat more patients. Sword aims to have its physical therapists manage an average of 700 patients at any given time by the end of 2024, according to documents reviewed by BI.

That’s a significant jump from the caseload previously allotted to Sword’s clinicians, the three former employees said, adding that a high caseload at the beginning of 2024 would’ve been about 200 to 300 patients per therapist. These numbers could include patients who aren’t actively engaged in therapy, according to the company.

In a statement to BI, a Sword spokesperson said the cuts were “all performance-based decisions, made on clinical engagement data.” The spokesperson said Sword has open positions for more than 30 physical therapists.

Sword, which hit a $3 billion valuation in June after pulling in $130 million in fresh financing, has been vocal about its ambitions to scale its business using artificial intelligence while keeping clinicians in the loop.

“What we’re looking to do internally is to have AI as one master expert, but at the same time, everything gets vetted and validated by a human person,” Sword CEO Virgílio Bento told BI in September 2023.

The three former employees said that Sword began using AI-generated messages for patient conversations in the spring. The technology allows physical therapists to accept an AI-generated message, edit it, or reject it. Once a therapist accepts or edits the message, it’s sent to patients, the former employees said. The AI also helps physical therapists prioritize the most critical patients, who might need more attention, according to the company.

Following its $130 million financing round, Sword announced an expansion of its AI platform with a new product that the company said could converse with patients during their virtual physical-therapy sessions and give them feedback in real time.

It’s also hoping to land more employer contracts with an outcomes-based pricing model, unveiled in September. In those contracts, Sword is set to get paid based on how much progress its patients make.

Sword’s recent technology and pricing pushes also point to an approaching initial public offering. Bento told BI in 2023 that he’d be interested in taking Sword public only if it’s profitable. The startup said in June that it expected to be profitable by the end of 2024 and could go public as soon as the second half of 2025.

It’s not the only digital-health startup waiting at the IPO gates. Its biggest competitor, the musculoskeletal startup Hinge Health, has hired banks, including Morgan Stanley, to file its S-1 in anticipation of a public-market debut, Business Insider first reported in September.

Omada Health is also expected to test the IPO waters. BI first reported last month that Omada filed its S-1 this summer.