How Sheba Is Advancing Virtual Mental Health Care

The Psychiatric Division combines advanced technology with individualized, patient-centered treatment to create a full continuum of care, from intensive support to outpatient follow-up. Introduced in 2019, these programs have positioned Sheba as a pioneer in virtual psychiatric care, now serving more than 500 patients.
Dr. Caspi describes the department’s approach as rooted in “creativity, multidimensional innovation, and research-based evaluation,” with a strong emphasis on patient experience, family participation, and healing environments alongside clinical excellence.

Virtual Home Hospitalization

In 2019, Sheba became the first medical center in the world to launch virtual home hospitalization for psychiatry. “Virtual home hospitalization allows the patient to remain in their familiar home surroundings, receiving intensive care from a multidisciplinary team with the same level of commitment and attention as they would in a traditional inpatient setting,” Dr. Caspi says.

This model preserves several important therapeutic advantages, including the comfort of home, the support of family, reduced stigma, and the ability to maintain daily life roles such as work, study, or parenting. For women experiencing postpartum depression, it can help maintain the “crucial dyadic bond” with their newborns. Sheba’s experience also shows that these benefits are reflected in recovery outcomes and patient experience surveys conducted regularly by the hospital.

Research has shown that virtual home hospitalization can match or exceed standard inpatient care in clinical outcomes, treatment adherence, therapeutic alliance, and functional recovery. It also reduces costs, including indirect expenses such as lost work time for patients and family members.

Sheba supported Israel’s Ministry of Health in developing national protocols for this model, and the approach has drawn interest from healthcare systems in Australia, Canada, the United States, and Ireland.

Digital Monitoring and Case Management

Sheba’s digital platform gives care teams real-time clinical insight through continuous monitoring of physiological and behavioral markers, including sleep and activity, as well as patient-reported outcome measures, or PROMs. “Continuous monitoring allows the multidisciplinary care team to continuously assess the patient’s clinical status, accessible via a dashboard,” Dr. Caspi explains.

This system helps clinicians detect deterioration earlier, measure treatment response more precisely, and better understand symptom progression between clinic visits. Rather than relying only on periodic appointments, the care team can follow the patient’s condition more closely and intervene when needed.

The department’s Case Manager model, introduced 25 years ago, further strengthens continuity of care across inpatient, outpatient, and community settings. Case managers help coordinate multidisciplinary treatment, involve family support systems, and monitor patients longitudinally according to their individual needs. This structure is especially valuable for patients with complex psychiatric conditions who require ongoing, coordinated support.

PROMs also play an important role in personalizing treatment. By capturing the patient’s own perspective directly, these tools provide information that may not always be visible in a clinical assessment. Dr. Caspi describes them as “the most important measure reflecting the patient’s progress in complex therapeutic processes.” Combined with objective digital monitoring, this creates a more complete and precise view of recovery.

Healing Environments

Sheba also treats the psychiatric care environment as part of the therapy itself. The department is designed more like a museum than a traditional hospital unit, with patient artwork, natural light, indoor and outdoor green spaces, and dedicated rooms for yoga, meditation, and art therapy.

“Bright spaces, touches of nature and greenery, art, and aesthetics—all contribute to creating calm, curiosity, inspiration, and attentiveness,” Dr. Caspi says. These design choices are not decorative; they are intended to support recovery and reduce stress.

Patient participation deepens the therapeutic value of the space. Some of the artwork on display was created during art-based therapy, and a new initiative trains patients to serve as museum guides in partnership with the Tel Aviv Museum. Therapy sessions, psychotherapy, neurofeedback, and physician consultations also take place in these calming settings, helping reinforce the department’s holistic model of care.

“The healing soul needs fertile soil to put down roots,” Dr. Caspi emphasizes. In this model, light, greenery, creativity, and open space work together to reduce mental clutter and support focus on recovery. That intentional environment complements the department’s technology-driven tools and creates a layered therapeutic experience.

Human Care and Technology

Sheba’s psychiatric division shows that world-class mental health care depends on the balance between innovation and human connection. Virtual platforms improve monitoring, case managers preserve continuity, and therapeutic spaces support emotional well-being, while the clinician-patient relationship remains central.

“Technology will never replace the human therapist, but it can enable more availability for what is sometimes lost in the workload—attentiveness and empathy,” Dr. Caspi says. “Innovation is not merely technology, but above all openness, humility, and the recognition that we must allow for a personal touch with every patient and clinician.”

That philosophy sits at the center of Sheba’s model and helps explain why the department continues to draw international attention.

A Model for Psychiatry

Sheba’s psychiatric care program is built on a simple idea: technology and human connection are most effective when they reinforce each other. Virtual home hospitalization, continuous digital monitoring, and intentionally designed therapeutic spaces each address a different part of the treatment experience, from clinical oversight to emotional support.

Together, these elements create a psychiatric care model that is both highly personalized and highly scalable. Sheba’s approach offers a practical blueprint for health systems looking to modernize psychiatric treatment without losing the human touch that patients need most.