Tampa General Hospital, USF Health Strengthen Partnership

New enhanced alliance will create one of the largest physicians’ groups on the west coast of Florida and improve coordination of care for patients

Tampa, FL (March 10, 2020) -- Tampa General Hospital and the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine are strengthening their long-standing relationship by joining Tampa General Medical Group and USF Health physician group, which will create one of the largest academic medical center physician groups in the state of Florida and build upon their longstanding affiliation.

Creation of this new enhanced alliance was approved today by the University of South Florida Board of Trustees. TGH’s Board of Directors previously approved the enhanced alliance, which will be jointly governed by leaders of both organizations.

The new alliance will benefit patients across Tampa Bay by enabling the region’s leading academic medical center to more easily provide seamless, comprehensive care for patients, said John Couris, TGH president and CEO, and John Touchton, chairman of the TGH Board of Directors.

“This is a great day for health in Tampa Bay,” Couris said. “TGH, USF and our private practice physicians have always had the most success when working together to improve health in Tampa Bay. Now that we are more closely strategically aligned, we can create a powerhouse that delivers world-class health care on the west coast of Florida.”

The new agreement will enable the two organizations to partner more quickly and broadly on a variety of strategic goals, ensuring that Tampa Bay’s best health care providers become economically stronger and well-positioned to deliver the cutting-edge care and innovative treatments that are a hallmark of academic medicine. 

“By coming together with the University of South Florida, we are replacing a ‘transactional’ relationship with a true collaborative partnership that is built on a foundation of mutual respect and trust, transparency, and a commitment to working together in the best interest of the academic medical center as a whole,” Touchton said. 

Through this new alliance, TGH and USF Health are strengthening their position as one of Florida’s leading academic medical centers through a sustainable, collaborative and comprehensive partnership that mutually benefits each organization across all missions, including clinical care, teaching, research and advocacy. The new partnership also will benefit the private practice physicians on staff at Tampa General Hospital by offering purchased services and management services through the new company. 

“Our private practice physicians are an integral partner to Tampa General Hospital and USF Health, and providing them the opportunity to participate in this partnership in a way that benefits their practices was a cornerstone to our agreement,” Couris said. 

Stronger ties between Tampa General Hospital and USF Health already have paid off in the new downtown USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and Heart Institute building. The building is a cornerstone of the new medical district that the partnership is creating around downtown Tampa, which includes USF Health’s CAMLS, the Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation and TGH’s plans for a new acute care rehabilitation center and a freestanding emergency department.

The ultimate beneficiary of this agreement is the community, as physicians from both groups are coming together to provide tightly coordinated, seamless patient care. 

ABOUT TAMPA GENERAL HOSPITAL Tampa General Hospital, a 1007-bed non-profit academic medical center, delivers world-class care as the region’s only center for Level l trauma and comprehensive burn care. It is one of the nation’s busiest adult solid organ transplant centers and is the primary teaching hospital for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. With five medical helicopters, Tampa General Hospital transports critically injured or ill patients from 23 surrounding counties to receive the advanced care they need. Tampa General houses a nationally accredited comprehensive stroke center and its 32-bed Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit is the largest on the West Coast of Florida. It also is home to an 82-bed Level IV neonatal intensive care unit, and a nationally accredited rehabilitation center. Tampa General Hospital’s footprint includes 14 Tampa General Medical Group Primary Care offices, TGH Family Care Center Kennedy, TGH Brandon Healthplex, TGH Virtual Care and 15 outpatient Radiology Centers. Tampa Bay residents also receive world-class care from the TGH Urgent Care powered by Fast Track network of clinics, and they can even receive home visits in select areas through TGH Urgent Care at Home, powered by Fast Track. As one of the largest hospitals in Florida, Tampa General Hospital is first in the state to open a command center in partnership with GE Healthcare. For more information, go to www.tgh.org.