Tampa General Hospital’s Hospital at Home Program Recognized as 2024 Tampa Bay Inno Award Honoree

The award recognizes TGH at Home’s commitment to prioritizing patient needs by leveraging innovative technology to deliver high-quality acute care in the comfort of their homes.

 

Tampa, FL (Dec. 2, 2024) – Tampa General Hospital’s (TGH) hospital at-home program, TGH at Home, has been named a 2024 Tampa Bay Inno Award honoree by the Tampa Bay Business Journal. Tampa General is one of 30 local organizations and people honored this year and is recognized in the Product Launch category, marking the academic health system’s third consecutive year honored for its innovative programs and partnerships.

 

“It’s no secret that one of the key drivers of our success is our commitment to innovation that aims to solve real-world problems for our patients, providers and team members and our community,” said John Couris, president and CEO of Tampa General. “We could not be prouder to celebrate the achievements of our TGH at Home program, which is establishing a blueprint for how our industry can deliver world-class hospital-level care right at home.”

Recovering from an illness in a hospital can be a stressful experience for many patients who would prefer to recover in the comfort of a familiar environment. The TGH at Home program was created to put the needs of patients first by implementing innovative technology to provide high-quality acute care in a home setting. The program, which has served close to 1000 patients since its launch in 2022, combines multiple in-home visits per day from health care providers, on-demand virtual visits and 24/7 remote patient monitoring.

Over the last two years as Tampa General has worked to scale the program, TGH at Home has achieved 30-day readmission rates of approximately 4-5 percent, as compared to 17-18 percent for inpatients at the brick-and-mortar facility — an almost 80 percent improvement. Additionally, patient experience scores are 30-40 percent higher for the TGH at Home program than for inpatient care units. By the end of this year, the program is on track to achieve an average daily census of 20 patients.

Through in-home visits and remote patient monitoring facilitated by the program, Tampa General has been able to identify multiple scenarios that put patients at potential risk when they return home after a hospital stay, including food insecurities, a lack of safety equipment to prevent falls and confusion about medications. By identifying these potential risks before they become a problem, Tampa General team members have been able to help problem solve directly with the patient and connect them with community resources for ongoing support, as needed.

To streamline care coordination across the patient population participating in the TGH at Home program, Tampa General designed a specialized clinical command center, which is used to closely monitor patients, as well as quality and outcomes trends. This work has continued to drive Tampa General’s transformation from a transactional care model to a coordinated patient care model, enabling efficiency, patient-centricity, growth and value creation for patients, providers and team members. As a result, engagement scores for Tampa General team members supporting the TGH at Home program are among the highest within the organization.

“We are extremely proud of the transformational program we’ve built and continue to invest in every day,” said Dr. Peter Chang, senior vice president and chief transformation officer of Tampa General. “Through TGH at Home, we are giving our patients the gift of healing on their terms and on their turf and our approach reinforces our shared belief in not only treating a patient’s medical condition, but also their entire well-being.”

Through Tampa Bay Inno, The Tampa Bay Business Journal aims to recognize creative leaders, growth-stage businesses, enterprises and innovators whose contributions are setting Tampa Bay’s technology ecosystem apart. The Tampa Bay Inno Awards — previously known as the Inno Fire Awards — celebrate the companies and leaders who are sparking change in the Tampa Bay community through talent, innovation and disruptive strategies.

This year’s honorees were celebrated during an awards ceremony on Nov. 14 at Hotel Flor. TGH at Home and the full list of 2024 Tampa Bay Inno Award honorees are profiled here.

To learn more about TGH at Home, please visit https://www.tgh.org/institutes-and-services/hospital-at-home.