Sheba Medical Center, through its ARC innovation arm, has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with OpenAI that will give Israeli medical teams access to the artificial intelligence giant’s dedicated healthcare models. The agreement makes Sheba the first hospital outside the United States to use OpenAI’s suite of specialized medical models.
Calcalist has learned that the agreement was signed by Nate Gross, OpenAI’s head of health. A Sheba delegation is expected to visit the company’s headquarters in August for meetings with senior executives.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman alongside Sheba Medical Center
(Photos: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images, Sheba Medical Center spokesperson’s office)
The agreement covers OpenAI for Healthcare and ChatGPT Health, which were launched in January and are currently available at only a small number of U.S. hospitals.
The system is designed for physicians and is intended to support clinical decision-making and the development of patient treatment plans based on the existing body of medical research. It is an encrypted and secure platform built specifically for hospitals.
The partnership will give Sheba physicians early access to advanced AI models before they are released more broadly and will deepen the hospital’s research partnership with OpenAI as part of the company’s healthcare program.
Dedicated working groups at Sheba will be exposed to different stages of the models’ development, participate in OpenAI’s global events and develop internal applications tailored to working with the platform.
Sheba’s treatment protocols will also be integrated into OpenAI’s models, enabling the system to tailor future recommendations to Israel’s healthcare system and the specific needs of Israeli patients.
Clinicians and researchers at Sheba will be able to submit patient case descriptions and receive references to relevant studies and medical literature, along with other tools designed to support routine clinical care.
Each response will include citations, journal references and publication dates, allowing medical teams to independently verify the research underlying each recommendation.
The tools will be integrated directly into the daily work of medical and research staff, enabling them to use AI as part of their regular clinical practice.
Sheba will also be able to incorporate its institutional knowledge into the system, including clinical protocols, treatment pathways and policy documents, so that responses reflect the hospital’s approved standards and procedures.
The platform will also support administrative and operational processes, helping reduce the burden of documentation and improve organizational efficiency.
The project joins a series of AI systems already operating at Sheba that were developed through its innovation center. These include technology developed by startup AIDOC to analyze medical imaging and rapidly detect cardiac events, as well as the SmartER emergency room platform, which automatically documents and summarizes clinical examinations.
The ARC innovation center was established in 2019 by Sheba Director General Prof. Yitshak Kreiss and Chief Innovation Officer Eyal Zimlichman to advance digital medical innovation at the hospital. The center allows entrepreneurs to test their technologies in a hospital environment, promotes strategic partnerships with medical institutions abroad and operates an investment arm in cooperation with the venture capital fund Triventures.
"The healthcare system is one of the fields where artificial intelligence can have the greatest impact," OpenAI said in a statement. "We are excited to collaborate with Sheba to make advanced AI capabilities available to physicians, researchers, and healthcare professional teams."