BEERSHEBA, Israel | Clalit Health Services has opened Israel’s first “Clinic of the Future” in Beersheba, creating a living laboratory where artificial intelligence, remote medicine, automated testing, and personalized preventive care will be integrated into everyday community healthcare.
The Lavi Clinic, located in Beersheba’s Innovation District, began treating patients three months ago and was formally inaugurated this week following three years of planning and development.
Clalit, Israel’s largest health organization, intends to use the clinic to test new technologies and care models that could eventually be expanded across its national healthcare network.
The project is also intended to position southern Israel as a development centre for healthcare innovation, with new approaches tested in Beersheba before potentially being introduced elsewhere in the country.
Dr. Assi Cicurel, head of family medicine for Clalit’s Southern District, manages the clinic and initiated and developed the model.
Cicurel said the concept emerged from some of the most significant pressures confronting modern healthcare systems, including an aging population, rising rates of chronic disease and growing expectations for more advanced and accessible medical services.
“The aging population, the rise in chronic diseases, and the growing expectation for an advanced standard of service, is a reality that requires the system to ‘do more with less,’” Cicurel said.
Development continued despite the war and security challenges affecting southern Israel.
“After three years of planning, wars, an Iranian missile that fell in the yard near the clinic, and other challenges, the clinic is finally operating,” Cicurel said. “We are proud to treat our first patients and lead in providing human, personalized, proactive medicine, combined with advanced technologies.”
Technology Meets Community Medicine
Among the technologies being deployed at Lavi are a service robot, an automated urine-testing station, and devices that allow patients to take vital measurements.
The clinic also incorporates remote medicine, self-service healthcare and advanced home monitoring.
Clalit says, however, that the central concept is not simply to place more technology inside a medical clinic. Instead, it is incorporating technology into a broader redesign of how patients interact with physicians and other healthcare professionals.
The model emphasizes proactive and preventive medicine, management of chronic conditions, and a deeper understanding of patients’ lifestyles and daily routines.
Dedicated conversations and questionnaires give healthcare teams more information about patients beyond individual appointments or immediate medical complaints.
Cicurel said one objective is to make preventive healthcare easier to incorporate into everyday life, including by bringing some services closer to patients’ workplaces.
“We found that people tend to cooperate with preventive medicine when it is carried out on ordinary days, and at the same time we adapt the clinic to the needs of the local community, with health promotion and preventive activities also at the community level,” he said.
AI Intended to Free Up Time for Patients
At the centre of the project is the principle that artificial intelligence and other technologies should supplement healthcare professionals rather than replace them.
Prof. Ran Balicer, Clalit’s chief innovation officer, said technological advances should reduce administrative and technical burdens, allowing doctors and other healthcare professionals to devote more attention to patients.
“Even in an era of a technological leap and artificial intelligence, the goal is not to replace the human factor, but to use technology to free up our caregivers’ most valuable resource, time and attention,” Balicer said.
“Progress is intended to serve the caregiver and the patient, free us from technical burdens, and enable community medicine to be more attentive, compassionate and have a deeper personal touch.”
Balicer said developing the model in Beersheba also reflects Clalit’s ambition to generate healthcare innovation in Israel’s periphery and eventually take successful approaches to the rest of the country and beyond.
Quoting Israel’s founding prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, Balicer said: “In the Negev, the people of Israel and their state will be tested.”
“Our vision was to grow innovation from community medicine, based on the understanding that the true power to lead deep and meaningful change lies in the people who lead it and are not deterred by challenges,” he added.
‘A Statement of Intent’
The inauguration was attended by Beersheba Mayor Ruvik Danilovich; Clalit Chairman Maj. Gen. (res.) Yohanan Locker; Soroka Medical Center CEO Prof. Shlomi Codish; Clalit Southern District Director Hedva Emuna; Balicer; members of the district leadership; and clinic staff.
Emuna described Lavi as more than another community medical facility.
“Lavi is not just a clinic. It is a statement of intent,” she said.
“We are taking Clalit’s human, professional, and personalized care, and together with the leading specialist physicians, advancing the clinic with the surrounding team, proactive, personalized, innovative medicine integrated with AI.”
Emuna said the goal is to ensure residents of southern Israel have access to some of the most advanced healthcare available.
For Clalit, the project’s longer-term significance extends beyond Beersheba.
By operating Lavi as a real-world testing ground within the community healthcare system, the organization aims to determine which technologies and new models of care improve prevention, chronic disease management, efficiency and the relationship between patients and healthcare professionals.
Successful innovations developed and tested at the clinic could ultimately be scaled across Clalit’s national network, making Beersheba the starting point for changes in community medicine throughout Israel.
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