Kidney Health Initiative Toolkit

The American Society of Nephrology, through the Kidney Health Initiative (KHI), wanted to accelerate the development of breakthrough solutions for kidney failure. But with a wide range of technologies from xenotransplants to implantable bionic kidneys how could they evaluate innovation based on patient impact, not just technical promise?

Suntra MedTech Solutions partnered with KHI to create a human-centered framework that redefined innovation through the lens of patient experience. Drawing on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, our team developed a strategic toolkit that empowers innovators to design and evaluate solutions based on how well they transform the lived experience of patients and caregivers—moving toward an experience “indistinguishable from being cured.”

This collaborative effort included:

• An innovation scale to assess impact potential.
• A series of patient personas and stories drawn from interviews with individuals living with stage 4 or 5 kidney disease.
• A set of universal design principles to guide product development, grounded in patient priorities and clinical realities.

The KHI Toolkit created a powerful bridge between patient needs and medtech innovation offering a clear roadmap for developers, funders, and clinicians to focus on what truly matters. By prioritizing empathy and lived experience, the toolkit is helping to reframe what “innovation” means in kidney care and set a new standard for patient-centered design across the industry.