As conversations around healthcare innovation continue to evolve globally, one challenge remains remarkably persistent: helping patients maintain consistent treatment routines after they leave the hospital.
At the 2026 New York Design Week, visitors exploring emerging innovations at the ICFF RE/CRAFT exhibition encountered a project that approached this challenge from an unconventional perspective, not through new drugs or clinical technologies, but through design.
The project, known as IASO, is an intelligent home healthcare product created by Ziwei Song. Combining physical product design, behavioral psychology, healthcare service design, and digital technology, IASO aims to help patients better manage their medications after hospital discharge, particularly older adults and individuals living with chronic conditions who often face complex treatment routines at home.
A Design-Led Answer to a Persistent Healthcare Challenge
For Song, the project reflects a broader belief that healthcare innovation is not only about advancing medical science. It is also about creating solutions that fit naturally into people’s daily lives.
As a product designer whose work spans healthcare, digital products, AI-powered experiences, and enterprise platforms, Song has long been interested in the relationship between technology and human behavior. Throughout her career, she has observed a recurring challenge. Even the most sophisticated systems can fall short if they fail to align with how people actually live, think, and make decisions.
That observation ultimately became the foundation for IASO.
The inspiration behind the project emerged from a simple but significant problem. While patients often receive structured support during hospitalization, many struggle to maintain treatment routines once they return home. For individuals managing chronic illnesses, especially older adults taking multiple medications, missed doses and medication confusion can negatively affect recovery and long-term health outcomes.
Rather than viewing medication management solely as a healthcare issue, Song approached it as a design challenge.
“Design has the ability to influence behavior in subtle but meaningful ways,” Song explains. “I wanted to explore how a product could support people not only functionally, but emotionally and psychologically throughout their healthcare journey.”
What Sets IASO Apart
The result was IASO, a system that combines automated medication organization, intelligent reminders, caregiver connectivity, and a user-friendly experience designed to reduce friction in everyday medication routines.
What distinguishes IASO from many existing solutions is its emphasis on empathy and accessibility. Instead of resembling traditional medical equipment, the product was intentionally designed to feel approachable, intuitive, and suitable for home environments. Every design decision, from its physical appearance to its interaction flow, was guided by the goal of helping users build sustainable healthcare habits over time.
International Recognition and a New York Design Week Debut
This human-centered approach has earned broad international recognition. IASO has received multiple prestigious awards, including the Red Dot Design Concept Award and the Red Dot Brands & Communication Design Award, along with recognition from several other international design competitions. These honors highlight not only the project’s innovation and design excellence but also its potential to create meaningful social impact in healthcare.
In 2026, the project was further showcased during New York Design Week through the ICFF RE/CRAFT exhibition. Presented alongside emerging ideas exploring technology, sustainability, and future living, IASO introduced international audiences to a vision of healthcare innovation driven not only by technology, but also by thoughtful design.
For Song, exhibiting during New York Design Week represented more than a professional milestone.
“It was exciting to see conversations happening across disciplines,” she says. “Designers, technologists, researchers, and healthcare professionals were all asking similar questions about the future. It reinforced my belief that solving healthcare challenges requires collaboration across multiple fields.”
From Concept to Real-World Trials
While international recognition helped validate the concept, Song remained focused on a more important question. Could IASO create meaningful value in real-world settings?
Over the past two to three years, that question has begun to be answered.
Through collaboration with Anhui Jinnan Medical Management Co., Ltd. in China, IASO has moved beyond the concept stage and entered preliminary trial programs focused on home healthcare, chronic disease management, and post-discharge medication support. The product was evaluated in real-world environments, providing valuable insights into how design-driven healthcare solutions can support patients outside traditional care settings.
Participants and caregivers shared feedback on their experience with the system, and healthcare partners offered observations on how it fit into everyday routines at home. These early programs gave the team a clearer sense of how thoughtfully designed home healthcare products might support continuity of care after patients leave the hospital.
For Song, the trials reflected a larger idea she returns to often. Design should not stop at creating attractive products. It should create meaningful experiences for the people who use them.
Where Home Healthcare Design Goes Next
Looking ahead, Song sees IASO as only the beginning.
As healthcare systems worldwide continue shifting toward preventive care, aging-in-place strategies, remote support, and home-based healthcare services, she believes there is a growing opportunity for design to contribute to more accessible and human-centered experiences.
Building on the lessons learned through the preliminary trials in China, Song is now exploring opportunities for broader adoption through future partnerships, research collaborations, and healthcare innovation initiatives. The early programs have helped lay the groundwork for a potential wider rollout of the IASO platform.
Her vision extends beyond medication management alone. Ultimately, she hopes to contribute to a future where design becomes an essential component of healthcare innovation, helping bridge the gap between advanced technology and the everyday experiences that influence long-term health and well-being.
As healthcare continues to evolve globally, projects like IASO offer a reminder that some of the most impactful innovations may not begin in laboratories or operating rooms. Sometimes, they begin with a simple question. How can we make healthcare work better for the people who rely on it every day?
