Kinetic Innovators Podcast

Todd Dunn of Accuryn Medical

Kidneys are a vital organ, but most hospitals still manage them with a gravity-fed catheter invented in 1933 and a blood test that was never designed to be a kidney marker. Todd Dunn, CEO of Accuryn, joins the show to talk about why acute kidney injury is one of the most overlooked patient safety problems in healthcare and how his team is digitizing kidney function at the bedside. Todd spent years leading innovation at GE Healthcare, Intermountain Healthcare, and Atrium Health before becoming an Accuryn customer and eventually stepping into the CEO role. In this conversation, we get into his innovation background, the staggering scale of AKI across U.S. hospitals (over 3 million events per year), the CMS decision to declare AKI a hospital-acquired harm, and how Accuryn's technology provides real-time urine output and intra-abdominal pressure data that can flag kidney distress up to 12 hours ahead of standard blood testing. We also talk about CAUTI reduction (90%+ in some units), where early adoption is happening, the nursing efficiency gains, and where Todd sees this heading with agentic AI and a more complete hemodynamic picture of the patient. Topics covered: Todd's innovation career from GE to Intermountain to Atrium to Accuryn Why kidneys are still managed with 90-year-old technology AKI prevalence, readmission rates, mortality impact, and cost data How Accuryn's active drain line clearance and ultrasonic measurement work Real-time EMR integration with Epic and Cerner Intra-abdominal pressure monitoring at 100 readings per second CAUTI reduction data from burn units and ICUs CMS hospital-acquired harm designation and what it means for health systems The future role of agentic AI in hemodynamic monitoring Todd's upcoming book on systematic healthcare innovation Connect with Todd directly: tdunn@accuryn.com [tdunn@accuryn.com]

Shawn Kumar of RhythmScience

Heart failure is one of the most complex and costly conditions in American healthcare. More than 6 million people are living with it right now. That number is heading toward 8 million by 2030, and we are spending over $18 billion a year on hospitalizations alone. The drugs are better. The devices are better. And yet the problem keeps growing. In this episode, C.W. Hall sits down with Shawn Kumar, founder and CEO of Rhythm Science, to talk about what it actually takes to deploy AI in a clinical setting to help care teams manage heart failure patients more effectively and more safely. Shawn brings serious credentials to this conversation. He spent years at Abbott launching the CardioMEMS insertable pulmonary arterial pressure device and has been working in the heart failure space for over a decade. That experience gave him a clear view of what technology can do and where the gaps remain. Together they dig into the Rhythm Science platform, its collaboration with Cedars-Sinai, and what clinical decision support AI looks like when it is built the right way versus when it is just adding noise to an already overwhelmed care team. They also cover GDMT titration complexity, the role of agentic care in data gathering, the reimbursement landscape for digital health, and why six years of focused development in this domain matters when hospitals and health systems are evaluating who to trust. This is a grounded, honest conversation about chronic disease management at scale. No hype. Just the real work. Find Rhythm Science at rhythm.io. Subscribe to Kinetic Innovators for more conversations with the people changing how healthcare is built and delivered.

Trevor Strauss of Trio Workforce Solutions

I sat down with Trevor Strauss, MBA, FACHE of Trio Workforce Solutions to dig into what it actually takes to solve the healthcare workforce crisis, not just staff around it. Trevor has spent 20+ years in this space, from retained physician recruiting to locum tenens, nurse staffing, MSP/VMS, and full workforce solutions. His core argument: the industry has been operating under a model that creates conflicts of interest, drives margin compression, and slowly erodes organizational control. Trio is built to flip that. A few things that stood out: The MSP acronym has been hijacked. It was never meant to mean "managed staffing program," yet that's what agency-led solutions have made it. True managed services means the healthcare organization drives the strategy, not the vendor. The walk/crawl/run philosophy matters more than people admit. Tech integrations that promise seamless connectivity on day one almost never deliver. Phased implementation protects both the client and the outcome. Workforce optimization is a margin lever. Even a one-percent improvement in workforce efficiency moves the needle in a material way for health systems operating on thin margins. Whether you're running a rural medical group or a large integrated health system, the conversation around workforce strategy is worth having differently than you have been. #KineticInnovators #HealthcareWorkforce #HealthcareLeadership #MSP #WorkforceSolutions #HealthcareStaffing #Podcast

Somer Baburek of Hera Biotech

Endometriosis affects about 1 in 10 reproductive-age women and remains a major driver of pelvic pain and infertility. In the U.S., cervical cancer is expected to cause about 13,490 new invasive cases and 4,200 deaths in 2026. Earlier detection matters: cervical screening can catch precancer before it becomes cancer, and localized cervical cancer has a 91.4% 5-year survival versus 19.5% once it is distant. Earlier recognition of endometriosis can also help patients reach pain and fertility-directed treatment sooner. Somer Baburek, MBA [https://www.linkedin.com/in/somerbaburek/] of Hera Biotech [https://www.linkedin.com/company/hera-biotech/] joined me to talk about how they are bringing innovation to the point of care, allowing physicians to identify these diagnoses far sooner, allowing more flexibility in treatment and follow-up diagnostics for their patients. hashtag#kineticinnovators [https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/all/?keywords=%23kineticinnovators&origin=HASH_TAG_FROM_FEED] hashtag#herabiotech [https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/all/?keywords=%23herabiotech&origin=HASH_TAG_FROM_FEED]hashtag#EndometriosisAwareness [https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/all/?keywords=%23endometriosisawareness&origin=HASH_TAG_FROM_FEED] hashtag#CervicalCancerAwareness [https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/all/?keywords=%23cervicalcancerawareness&origin=HASH_TAG_FROM_FEED] hashtag#EarlyDetection [https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/all/?keywords=%23earlydetection&origin=HASH_TAG_FROM_FEED]

Egg Medical Reducing Radiation Scatter Exposure in Fluoroscopy Suites

Clinicians in fluoroscopy suites face some of the highest chronic radiation exposure in medicine, leading to cataracts, cancer concerns, and serious orthopedic problems from heavy lead. New table‑mounted shielding like Egg Medical’s EggNest changes the game by blocking scatter at its source—around the patient—rather than just armoring the operator. Studies show it can cut scatter to the team by roughly 90–98%, dramatically shrinking the radiation field in the room and helping protect everyone: physicians, nurses, techs, and anesthesia. We’re moving from the “lead apron era” to an “engineered environment era,” where smarter lab design lets clinicians deliver complex fluoroscopy‑guided care without sacrificing their long‑term health.