Reverse inactivity and slash MSK costs with Move's 3:1 ROI

Validation Institute Certified Study Methodology demonstrates how Sword Health’s Move program improves health, lowers costs, and drives ROI for employers and health plans.

Key findings from certified Move analysis

• 1,663 per member savings: in annual MSK costs per participant. 
• 3:1 gross return on investment: with a maximum fee of $500 per member, this translates to a 3:1 gross ROI.

MSK costs are rising with more sedentary lifestyles

MSK is the #1 healthcare cost in the US¹.

Specifically, musculoskeletal pain is the root cause of this significant driver on the balance sheets of employer health plans. 

The high prevalence of physical inactivity within healthcare populations is a big part of the problem, leading to a rise in musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions and comorbidities.

• Today, 3 in 4 adults don’t get enough physical activity²
• Inactivity increases the risk of MSK conditions by 50%³ 
• 45% of people with an MSK condition also have a comorbidity⁴

There is a positive opportunity jumping out from these troubling statistics.

Preventative healthcare designed to keep at-risk members physically active can lower these avoidable MSK claims and costs.

“This study is yet more proof that AI Care is transforming how care is delivered by providing high-quality personalized care that is also cost-effective, creating benefits for members, employers, and clinicians alike. By streamlining the decision-making process with AI, clinicians can spend more time with patients and engage at the human level, ensuring they receive the same high standard of care. It also enables us to extend the reach of our high-quality solutions to all patients, ensuring equitable benefits across the board.” – Virgilio Bento, founder and CEO of Sword Health.

Reverse inactivity trends to prevent avoidable MSK claims 

Reducing the volume and severity of MSK claims is a critical focus area for health plan administrators and finance teams trying to reduce expenditure.

Unlike many other injuries and diseases, so many MSK claims are preventable with the help of proactive care plans.

1 in 3 musculoskeletal conditions can be prevented by regular exercise⁵

MSK issues like back pain, knee pain, shoulder issues, and other niggling injuries often start out as mild discomfort. 

The early signs of MSK pain are often overlooked. But when left untreated, they escalate into chronic pain, productivity loss, unnecessary surgeries and other costly downstream medical intervention.

Sword Move is built to serve as this proactive MSK intervention.

What is Sword Move?

Move is a proactive AI-powered pain care solution designed to help at-risk members build lasting movement habits. Personalized care plans develop health movement habits and avoid the progression of low pain and injuries into persistent physical pain conditions. 

By providing accessible care with daily activities, step goals, and real-time guidance, Move provides interventions that are timely and effective. 

Revolutionary at-home care gets members moving to slash MSK costs

• Convenient Digital Access: Short, engaging daily sessions, such as a 6 minute "Desk Reliever" or 10-minute "Pilates: Core Strength," that easily fit into members' routines.
• One-on-one expert guidance: Each member receives 1:1 support from a dedicated physical health expert, who holds a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree. Their specialist designs and delivers a weekly personalized Move Plan that is customized as the member progresses.
• Advanced Wearable Technology: The Move wearable device tracks heart rate, steps, and active time, providing critical data to their specialist. This performance tracking keeps members accountable and helps the specialist further personalize their program.
• Focus on Habit Formation: The program is built on a habit-formation loop that includes clinical screening, understanding member history, a tailored program, and AI-powered analytics to optimize the plan for long-term success.

Study certifies Move’s proven results and 3:1 ROI

A comprehensive claims-based analysis involving 608 Move participants, matched against a robust control group, demonstrated substantial savings and a remarkable return on investment (ROI). 

The study methodology was independently validated by the Validation institute, an an unquestioned authority in vendor outcomes validation⁶.

How Move delivers lasting MSK savings

• $1,663 per member savings: in annual MSK costs per participant. 
• 3:1 gross return on investment: with a maximum fee of $500 per member, this translates to a 3:1 gross ROI.
• Service savings per member: savings were realized across multiple healthcare categories:

Overall, for every dollar spent on Move, employers and health plans saved approximately $3.3.

Beyond the savings: better health outcomes at scale

Move also improves how members feel, move, and live. By empowering members to build healthy, lasting movement habits, the solution delivers significant improvements in their overall well-being:

Across 117 clients and over 26,000 enrolled members, Sword Move delivered:

• Strong clinical improvement: 91% of members felt moderately or much better⁷
• Increased physical activity: 69% of inactive and Insufficiently active members reached active or healthy active levels within 10 weeks and saw a 1 hr and 22 minute reduction in seated time per day⁸
• Significant pain reduction: 48% of members moved to pain-free, and of members with moderate or high pain the majority achieved clinically meaningful relief⁹
• Mental health improvements: Over half of the members with moderate to severe symptoms recovered to non-clinical levels¹⁰ of anxiety (60%) and depression (59%)¹¹
• Strong engagement at scale: Move is easy to implement across even the largest healthcare populations with over 300,000 sessions completed to date

These are not just logged activities. These are real outcomes. When people build regular physical activity habits, they feel better, need less care, and stay engaged in their health.

Methodology overview

The analysis behind these findings used robust statistical methods to ensure reliability:

• Study Design: The study employed a retrospective cohort analysis on 608 Sword Move members and 608 controls that only received traditional care.
• Inclusion Criteria: To be included in the study, participants had to be 18 years old or older, have continuous enrollment for at least six months pre- and six months post-index date, and have an MSK condition. Participants in the Move group had to complete at least one Move session. Controls had to have at least one claim related to MSK and one of the following treatment events: traditional physical therapy evaluation or visit (PT), occupational therapy, chiropractor, or Office visit.
• Data Sources: Data was sourced from medical claims and medical benefit eligibility records, linked to Sword program data, spanning from July 2022 to February 2025. 
• Propensity Score Matching (PSM): PSM was used to create matched sets of treated and control subjects with similar baseline characteristics. This method helps ensure comparability between the two groups by balancing covariates that could influence outcomes. Participants and controls were matched based on a wide range of key covariates (age, gender, geographical state, baseline MSK, PT, surgery, and total costs, and related utilization, along with 13 comorbid diagnosis and spend categories). The matching used a glm distance and nearest neighbor matching within a predefined caliper, with exact matching on eligibility period and gender.
• Difference-in-Difference (DiD) Analysis: The DiD approach compared changes in medical costs between the treated and control groups before and after the intervention. This method accounts for time-related trends and external factors that could affect both groups, allowing for the isolation of the causal impact of the Move program. 
• Baseline Balance: A balance table was used to verify that the matched groups were statistically comparable across all covariates, with all absolute standardized mean differences below 0.1, ensuring that the measured savings can be attributed to the Move program.

Balance of key covariates in the matched groups

Move offers employers and health plans more than just a digital pain prevention solution. The program provides a comprehensive approach

1. drives tangible cost savings
2. significantly improves the quality of life 
3. Proactively addressing pain before it becomes chronic
4. Reduce the need for costly procedures
5. Fostering long-term physical activity habits

Most importantly, Move delivers better health outcomes with a compelling ROI. That means cost savings for top-quality care with proven results.

Schedule a demo today and learn how Move can transform your MSK care strategy.