Leveraging Citrix, Clalit Health Services established new clinics in evacuee hotels within a day, serving 100,000 people. Utilizing a specialized Citrix infrastructure with VDI, Publish Application, and Netscaler capabilities, Clalit Health Services was able to swiftly activate essential digital services, ensuring immediate medical treatment for evacuees wherever they were located
Overview:
– Clalit provides healthcare services to 52% of the country’s population.- With the outbreak of the 7.10 war, Clalit was required to provide medical services to 100,000 evacuees who moved to hotels or alternative apartments.
– Clalit built its services on Citrix, specifically leveraging Publish Application, NetScaler, and VDI capabilities.
– With Citrix, Clalit managed to establish new clinics in evacuees’ hotels within a single day (!).
– A total of 50 new clinics were established, and 100,000 evacuees were treated.
– Citrix allowed Clalit to demonstrate flexibility and innovation, respond quickly to extreme conditions, and provide quality healthcare services to those in need.
Background:
Clalit Health Services is the largest healthcare organisation in Israel, serving 52% of Israel’s population, managing 1,600 clinics and 14 hospitals, and employing tens of thousands of doctors and staff. The cyber infrastructure department of Clalit, which includes about 200 employees, is responsible for all of Clalit’s IT infrastructure, including in all clinics and hospitals. As a result, Clalit is also the largest civilian computing entity in Israel.
The Need: Providing Medical Services to 100,000 Evacuees Quickly
The 7.10 war shook Israeli society, particularly the lives of the 100,000 residents who were evacuated from their homes and lost their houses. The evacuees moved to hotels or apartments in different geographical regions. Simultaneously, the clinics of the evacuees in their permanent settlements in the south and north were closed. As a result, a solution needed to be found to provide medical treatment and medications for them. Given the sensitivity of the situation, there was a need for the ability to provide quick and immediate care, addressing the medical needs that arose due to the war while not adding to the pain and difficulty caused by the war and the displacement from home.
The Solution: Establishing Clinics in One Day with Citrix
Clalit was chosen to provide the medical services and was required to find a way to provide immediate medical care to all evacuees in the hotels. Even before the war, Clalit was invested in Citrix infrastructure, specifically in the capabilities of Publish Netscaler and VDI. These tools powered a significant portion of the digital services of Clalit. Among Clalit employees, there are 20,000 Citrix users.
Using Citrix, Clalit was able to provide medical services to evacuees wherever they were, whether in hotels or alternative apartments. Citrix’s virtual capabilities allowed Clalit to establish new clinics in hotels within a day and to provide medical services immediately. The infrastructure team of Clalit, who arrived at the evacuees’ hotels, received a room with an internet connection. Instead of bringing servers, they brought only an endpoint device and connected it to the Citrix data center. From there, the doctors could already access the patients’ information and start working. To secure the information, Clalit used NetScaler, which works as a reverse proxy for Citrix.
Simultaneously, Citrix allowed Clalit to provide services to Clalit evacuees who moved to alternative apartments in other regions, easily and efficiently. The evacuees were assigned to new clinics and doctors without delay and continued to receive service.
Citrix also opened up the possibility for Clalit to provide medical services through BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). In this model, staff members connect their personal computers to the data center and provide full services to patients, instead of needing to receive a computer from Clalit.
The Result and Impact: Quality Medical Services – Quickly and Efficiently
Using Citrix provided Clalit’s infrastructure department with several operational advantages:
– Establishment of 50 Clinics to Treat 100,000 Evacuees: With Citrix, Clalit succeeded in establishing dozens of clinics for 100,000 evacuees and quickly provided them with the medical services they needed, under the extreme conditions of war.
– Real-Time Response: Citrix allowed the medical staff to securely and quickly access patient information immediately. As a result, Clalit could respond in real time to the population’s needs, even in extreme situations like war, establish the necessary infrastructure, and continue working.
“Thanks to Citrix, we were able to go from 0 to 100 in a moment,” said Omer Kidar, Head of Infrastructure and Cyber Department, Clalit Health Services.
– Elimination of Physical Limitations in Providing Medical Services: Citrix enables the provision of medical services anywhere and without physical limitations. The ability to connect and work from anywhere was first felt during the COVID-19 pandemic when Citrix allowed doctors to provide medical services to patients from home without needing to go to the clinic. The use of these capabilities continues to this day, post-pandemic. In the war, the lack of boundaries expanded further, and the location of the clinics was adapted to the location of the patients.
“Four years ago, patients went to doctors. During COVID, they received services from home. Now Clalit follows the patients. All of this is thanks to Citrix,” said Omer Kidar, Head of Infrastructure and Cyber Department, Clalit Health Services.
– Agility: Citrix’s virtual capabilities allow connection from any existing infrastructure and any endpoint device, including BYOD. As a result, Clalit can operate quickly and adapt to the needs of patients without delays or complex and delaying operations.
– Patient Satisfaction: Citrix allows Clalit to provide fast and quality medical services to any population in need without delays and without creating frustrations. Providing customer service always requires sensitivity and flexibility, but providing medical services requires special sensitivity, given that it involves a population in need of help. During war and among evacuees, this need is amplified many times over. Citrix allowed for the reduction of friction and barriers so that the medical staff could focus on providing medical services and caring for the population.
“Medicine changed with the war. Wherever a person was, Clalit reached out to them and provided medical services with Citrix,” said Omer Kidar, Head of Infrastructure and Cyber Department, Clalit Health Services.
– Innovation and Forward-Looking Vision: Citrix’s capabilities open up innovative possibilities for Clalit to provide medical services in the future. Just as the capabilities utilized during COVID-19 were preserved, so too will the rapid response and clinic establishment capabilities serve Clalit and its patients in the future, beyond war and in times of growth and prosperity.
“We are very satisfied with Citrix,” said Omer Kidar, Head of Infrastructure and Cyber Department, Clalit Health Services.
