Joint Ai, an AI-powered triage platform designed to help automate the evaluation, diagnosis and treatment for patients suffering from knee and hip arthritis, today announced a $315,000 investment from the Richard King Mellon Foundation. The funds will be used to enhance the company’s technology, increase strategic partnerships, and expand access to orthopaedic surgeons nationwide.
With the U.S. spending roughly $34 billion annually on arthritis care, and knee and hip replacements rising 6% year-over-year, access to orthopaedic care is under mounting strain. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons warns that providers need to double their caseloads by 2050 to keep pace with demand. Meanwhile, the number of orthopaedic providers available is shrinking, and current surgeons already spend roughly 30% of their time with non-operative patients, often only to re-refer them elsewhere. These pressures underscore an urgent need for new approaches that help providers manage patient demand and care pathways.
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To address these challenges, Joint Ai has developed a clinical decision aid that is under evaluation for its role in assessing and triaging patients with knee and hip pain from arthritis. Using proprietary algorithms and artificial intelligence, the platform analyzes X-ray images alongside patient-reported overall symptoms (PROS) to deliver a comprehensive and individualized view of joint health. Joint Ai is designed to support clinicians as they evaluate, diagnose, and recommend operative or non-operative treatment for patients with knee or hip pain from arthritis.
“Our mission is to improve both the provider and patient experiences by developing tools that aim to expand access to care and reduce delays,” said Dr. Tony DiGioia, Orthopaedic Surgeon and Founder of Joint Ai.
Joint Ai is unique in that, beyond automatically evaluating the level of degeneration, the platform is designed to recommend patient-specific and individualized treatment options and supports clinical decision-making while better engaging patients in their own care through the shared decision-making process. Its proprietary AI platform aligns with real-world clinical workflows, automating time-consuming manual evaluations to support orthopaedic clinicians in their efforts to match patients with appropriate treatment options.
“With this new funding, we aren’t just making another clinical tool. We’re designing a fundamentally smarter way to evaluate and diagnose patients,” added DiGioia. “By blending deep surgical expertise with innovative artificial intelligence, our goal is to give orthopaedic teams the best clinical insights so surgeons can prioritize the patients who need them most, exactly when it matters.”
Joint Ai was founded by Anthony DiGioia, MD, an engineer, entrepreneur and practicing orthopedic surgeon based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. DiGioia is also the founder and medical director of the Bone and Joint Center at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital, the Wellness Center for Bone and Joint Health, the UPMC Innovation Center, and the nonprofit AMD3 Foundation. A pioneer in medical robotics, navigation, and computer-assisted orthopedic surgery, he has developed advanced technologies that support clinical practice and continues to lead initiatives that combine the art and science of medicine to improve patient care.
The Richard King Mellon Foundation’s investment in Joint Ai is made through its Social-Impact Investment Program, through which the Foundation invests in for-profit startups with a social mission that aligns with the Foundation’s philanthropic strategy.
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