Tampa General Hospital and the Florida-Israel Business Accelerator Partner to Bring Advanced Medical Innovations to the Tampa Bay Region

The partnership is connecting groundbreaking innovation to provide leading-edge solutions that advance Tampa General’s commitment to world-class patient care.

Tampa, FL (June 29, 2021) – Tampa General Hospital and the Florida-Israel Business Accelerator (FIBA) are excited to announce a collaboration to identify innovative solutions from Israel that will further Tampa General’s mission to improve the quality and delivery of care in the Tampa Bay region and beyond.

“Innovation is so much more than new technology,” said John Couris, president and CEO of Tampa General Hospital. “It’s about reaching out for new partnerships and perspectives to explore groundbreaking ideas and apply world-class solutions in a meaningful, thoughtful way. We expect that our partnership with FIBA will significantly advance our vision to be the safest and most innovative academic health system in America.”

For the first project of the new partnership, Tampa General worked with FIBA to identify Israeli startup companies that demonstrated the potential to develop solutions focusing on efficiency and quality in Tampa General Medical Group’s outpatient physician offices. Out of 50 companies that applied for the program, seven were selected by Tampa General. The companies selected participated in weekly group and one-on-one coaching sessions over a period of six weeks with FIBA advisors to prepare them for presentations to Tampa General’s ambulatory leadership team.

The seven selected companies were tasked with solving challenges associated with:

• Streamlining manual administrative tasks
• Aligning all patient health information for pre-visit physician reporting
• Improving administrative workflow processes
• Designing an improved exam room experience

Once the presentations were made, the Tampa General team began assessing the potential companies and will select at least one company for a software-based proof of concept project. Following a successful completion of a test project that demonstrates improved operational efficiency, Tampa General will begin to implement the solution. 

“Israel is a leader in digital health technologies with close to 600 companies specializing in this domain and $600 million invested in these Israeli digital health companies in 2019 alone. We are excited to help our partners at Tampa General find the right solution for their needs and at the same time, showcase Florida to Israeli tech companies,” said Rakefet Bachur-Phillips, co-executive director at FIBA.

Tampa General’s partnership with FIBA is a project of TGH Innoventures, founded to spur innovation within the academic medical center and transform the future of health care through the support of early stage startups and direct investments, led by Rachel Feinman, vice president of innovation for Tampa General. “The aim of this partnership -- to connect Tampa General with groundbreaking innovations solving critical problems -- is exactly the type of project that Innoventures was designed to originate,” said Feinman.

FIBA showcased some of the companies participating in the digital health program during a virtual event titled: Connection to Innovation held on June 23.  

In addition to the FIBA partnership, Tampa General also recently announced earlier this year a partnership with Sheba Medical Center, a world-renowned university teaching hospital located near Tel Aviv, Israel with a goal to generate groundbreaking developments in healthcare services, education, training, and innovation.

ABOUT FIBA

The Florida-Israel Business Accelerator (FIBA - pronounced Fee-Bah) is a Florida-based economic development program supported by the State of Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity, Hillsborough County and the generous support of corporate sponsors and community philanthropists.  FIBA provides a soft landing for Israeli tech companies that are ready to expand into the US market. FIBA offers entrepreneurs strategic alignment with corporate partners, facilitates introductions to prospective customer, strategic partners, and investors, and encourages the companies to establish presence in Florida and hire locally. For more information on FIBA and its programs, visit https://www.fiba.io/.

 ABOUT TAMPA GENERAL HOSPITAL
Tampa General Hospital, a 1041-bed non-profit academic medical center, is one of the largest hospitals in America and delivers world-class care as the region’s only center for Level l trauma and comprehensive burn care. Tampa General Hospital is the highest-ranked hospital in the market in U.S. News & World Report’s 2020-21 Best Hospitals, and one of the top 4 hospitals in Florida, with five specialties ranking among the best programs in the United States. 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 the Jennifer Leigh Muma 82-bed Level IV neonatal intensive care unit, and a nationally accredited rehabilitation center. Tampa General Hospital’s footprint includes 17 Tampa General Medical Group Primary Care offices, TGH Family Care Center Kennedy, TGH Brandon Healthplex, TGH Virtual Health and 19 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 the country, Tampa General Hospital is first in Florida to partner with GE Healthcare and open a clinical command center that uses artificial intelligence and predictive analytics to improve and better coordinate patient care at a lower cost.  For more information, go to www.tgh.org.