AI for MSK Will Bend the Healthcare Cost Curve

Up to 80% of Americans will face a lower back issue in their lifetime. It’s the second-leading cause of hospitalizations and contributes to approximately 83 million days of work lost per year. Yet despite progress in recent years, conservative care options to prevent and address lower back pain remains a deeply underinvested part of healthcare, often being delayed or ignored until expensive, intensive interventions like surgery become necessary. 

As AI continues to be applied throughout healthcare, with adoption rates across the industry nearing 90%, preventive and rehabilitative musculoskeletal (MSK) care is an area in which use cases are demonstrating significant gains. As AI evolves, hospitals and large clinics should consider its use in acquiring, treating, and keeping patients engaged in care outside the four walls of the doctor’s office for better outcomes for MSK issues and beyond, including exploring the application of agentic AI to help expand the capacity for conservative care.

Agentic AI: The future of physical therapy and rehabilitation 

Physical therapy clinicians, who are the first line of defense for MSK concerns, are a vital part of our healthcare system. They keep people out of hospitals and off of operating tables, and when surgical interventions are required, PTs help restore people to a pain-free, independent lifestyle. However, like so many other healthcare specialties, demand is outpacing the rate of clinicians joining the workforce, leading to patients unable to find care, facing long waits when they do, or even deferring treatment altogether.

Hospitals and clinics that deliver MSK care may struggle to treat patients when and where they need it, resulting in higher cost interventions later in the patient journey, or losing them to other clinics, risking their own organizational sustainability. According to a recent hospital report, this patient leakage is having a downstream impact on financial stability: Outpatient revenue has fallen by 8% and inpatient revenue by 3%. 

With the aid of agentic AI, clinicians have the flexibility to deliver care in person or virtually and gain much-needed capacity without burning out or overwhelming already-taxed systems. While AI should not replace the expertise highly trained clinicians bring to their patients, agentic AI can build on generative AI in hospital and clinic settings to take proactive actions based on the analysis of patient data and interactions without burdening the clinician with additional cognitive load. It can help clinicians triage patients to get them to appropriate levels of care quickly, especially with hybrid (both digital and in-person) care options available, and it can enhance the patient experience by supporting administrative questions and personalizing care plans based on unique needs and preferences, which improves patient engagement and outcomes.

A sustainable path for clinicians, hospitals, and healthcare 

The average cost for a family health insurance plan offered through the workplace was $26,993 in 2025, an increase of 6% from a year ago, according to a recent study. It’s expected that premiums will grow by another 6% within the next year. Meanwhile, most health systems and hospitals are experiencing significant headwinds through the rest of 2026 due to insurance changes, workforce shortages, rising supply costs, and evolving policies wherein reimbursements often don’t keep up with inflation. With efficiency and patient retention being two strong strategies for cost savings and growth, the use of AI-powered digital care options can support stronger tailwinds as well.

Access to AI-powered digital MSK care options reduces wait times and allows patients to move directly into the right care instead of stair-stepping from hospital inpatient to primary care physicians to physical therapy. This technology-enabled progress can demonstrate a major cost avoidance per patient and, more importantly, allow for faster access to necessary care for patients. In turn, hospitals and clinics keep patients engaged, which helps avoid future hospitalizations or additional doctor’s appointments. Another benefit? Reducing overall system burden and associated visit costs.

AI is by no means a panacea for solving all complex and significant issues across healthcare, but it can deliver measurable progress in creating a more sustainable system nationally. For hospital leaders making decisions about rehabilitation and physical therapy, AI applications used thoughtfully and strategically offer a path to the way healthcare should work: access to care when and where it’s needed, more affordability, with better outcomes.

Photo: Motortion, Getty Images

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