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Breakthroughs aren’t only robotics and artificial intelligence. At the first awards ceremony for the Hadassah Medical Organization's (HMO) Year of Innovation, hospital leadership put the spotlight on another source: the people working across Hadassah hospitals every day.
Leaders and clinicians celebrated 128 employee-generated proposals designed to improve patient care and hospital efficiency. The ideas came from employees across HMO who understand the day-to-day needs of patients and hospital operations firsthand.
"These developments couldn’t have come from an ivory tower but from those who directly face challenges," said HMO Board Chair Dalia Itzik. "Innovation in the medical field is no longer a luxury; it’s a necessity."
Notably, 42 percent of the 128 submissions came from administrative staff rather than clinicians. HMO Director General Prof. Yoram Weiss said the range of ideas demonstrates that meaningful innovation can be found in everyday improvements as well as groundbreaking medicine.
"It's not just protons and CAR-T anymore, but all elements of hospital life," Prof. Weiss said. "This is only the beginning."
Three standout projects captured top honors during the ceremony:
- The Bondchair Solution: How do you move a mom and a newborn at the same time? Midwife Shira Berkovitz Alshech designed a specialized wheelchair featuring an integrated newborn transport "nest." Designed to eliminate the hazards and frustrations of postpartum ward transfers, it ensures continuous mother-baby bonding, privacy, and acoustic and visual shielding.
- ED QI 360: A digital nervous system for the emergency department powered by a single digital brain. It features a Live Control Center for real-time patient flow balancing, a frictionless mobile interface for instant near-miss reporting and proactive smart alerts to catch system bottlenecks before they escalate.
- "Now What?" by Lori Sloman: An AI-driven coordination system built to translate complex post-procedure medical instructions into a clear, personalized action plan. The tool helps patients independently navigate follow-up care, appointments and referrals after leaving the hospital.
A structured framework supports this culture of creativity, helping promising ideas move from concept to development and, potentially, to the global stage. Prof. Chaim Lotan, HMO’s chief innovation officer, leads the Year of Innovation program.
"The vision behind this initiative was to connect clinical excellence, research excellence and a way to advance creativity, creative thinking and how we bring these things together," said Prof. Lotan.
Several of the submitted employee ideas have already been forwarded to Hadasit, Hadassah’s technology transfer company, for evaluation of their patent potential.
The program was supported by a generous $150,000 contribution from the Renee Kaplan Brodsky Fund through Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America.
Reflecting on the innovative work taking place across HMO, Rhoda Smolow, past national president of Hadassah, captured the sentiment of the day: "We are totally devoted to everything that you do."
