Outcomes Rocket

Nursing isn’t short on nurses. It’s short on engagement. In this episode, Curtis Anderson, Founder and CEO of Nursa, discusses how the company is working to ensure that a nurse is at the bedside of every patient in need. He shares how buying a nurse staffing agency in 2017 led him to replace manual, whiteboard-and-sticky-note matchmaking with technology that connects facilities and clinicians directly. Curtis explains how Nursa operates as a two-sided marketplace, matching like-for-like while maximizing earnings for clinicians and delivering reliable, lower-cost staffing for facilities. He also challenges the narrative of a nursing shortage, explaining why he sees it as an engagement and participation problem, and how giving clinicians choice and flexibility can keep more licensed nurses working. Tune in to learn how rethinking engagement can help close the staffing gap and build a more hopeful future for nursing! Resources: Connect with and follow Curtis Anderson on LinkedIn Follow Nursa on LinkedIn and explore their website!

The next wave of healthcare AI may do its best work as a companion rather than a replacement. In this episode, Terry Miller, Vice President of Machine Learning and AI at Omada Health, talks about edge healthcare and the convergence of wearables, biometrics, mobile diagnostics, robotics, and AI that moves care closer to where people live. Terry explains how a longitudinal view of health helps organizations intervene before someone reaches their sickest point. He describes why patients now expect care that adapts to them. He also makes the case for AI that grows from static recommendations into an agentic companion, one that keeps people engaged and coordinates care while supporting the caregivers around them. Tune in to learn how edge healthcare and AI companionship can make care more proactive and more human! Resources: Connect with and follow Terry Miller on LinkedIn. Follow Omada Health on LinkedIn and learn more on their website!

Mental health support is most effective when people can reach it before their hardest moments. In this episode, Jana French, Public Sector Partnerships Director at Crisis Text Line, talks about how text-based support can make crisis care more accessible. She explains that people can text 741741 or 988 for more than suicidal thoughts, including anxiety, grief, relationship challenges, and other difficult moments. Jana also shares how Crisis Text Line brings together trained volunteers, clinical supervision, and technology to support people across the country, while giving volunteers valuable communication skills. She discusses the role AI can play in triage and in spotting broader trends, while emphasizing that human connection remains at the heart of crisis support. Tune in to learn how low-barrier, human-centered crisis support can help people get care when they need it most. Resources: Connect with and follow Jana French on LinkedIn. Explore Crisis Text Line and learn how to text 741741 for free, 24/7 mental health support. Learn about the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

Organ preservation still runs on a plastic bag, wet ice, and a picnic cooler. In this episode, Dr. Xiaoxi Wei, Founder and CEO of X-Therma, discusses extending the lifespan of organs, cells, and other living medicines. Her grandfather's death set the work in motion. She explains why the method used to carry a donated organ has barely changed in 50 years, and why a four-hour window decides which patients get matched. X-Therma's answer is a peptoid-based material modeled on nature's antifreeze proteins, designed to hold tissue at sub-zero temperatures without freezing damage. Wei also walks through the changes that occur when preservation stretches from hours to days, including broader donor matching, more room for cell and tissue therapies, and a path away from DMSO. Tune in to hear how a new class of preservation materials could turn more donated organs into transplants! Resources: Connect with and follow Dr. Xiaoxi Wei on LinkedIn. Follow X-Therma on LinkedIn and explore the X-Therma website. Contact the X-Therma team at [email protected].

Healthcare has no shortage of technology, but too many disconnected tools can create more work for clinicians, patients, and administrators. In this episode, Amit Kumthekar, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer at Sully, talks about building AI that expands healthcare’s human capacity. Amit traces his path into healthcare innovation through his experience with a chronic condition and his early work in diabetes research. He explains how Sully brings clinical documentation, billing, patient engagement, inbound and outbound calls, and front-office workflows into one system to reduce friction across the care journey. They also discuss how to design voice AI that feels natural and empathetic, why agentic AI needs a strong technical foundation to deliver real-world value, and how consolidating fragmented tools frees organizations to put more resources into patient care. Tune in to learn how connected AI can make healthcare more efficient, accessible, and patient-centered! Resources: Connect with and follow Amit Kumthekar on LinkedIn. Follow Sully on LinkedIn and explore its website.