Tampa General Hospital and Mass General Brigham Strengthen Collaboration, Enhancing High-quality Care, Programs and Services in Florida

Affiliation increases access for Floridians across multiple specialties, including cancer care and Veteran's health.

TAMPA, Fla., Sept. 17, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Tampa General Hospital (TGH) and Boston-based Mass General Brigham (MGB), two of the nation's leading health care systems, today announced a successful deepening of their affiliation with the development of new programs and services, including a bone marrow transplant program and CAR-T therapy program, at TGH. The two organizations are also growing their health care services to support Florida's veterans and service members through Home Base Florida. These efforts complement and strengthen the ongoing exchange of expertise and clinical best practices between the two health systems. Today's announcement marks three years of collaboration, as MGB has worked closely with TGH to grow its capabilities as a leading destination for medical innovation and training, research, physician recruitment and patient care. 

TGH's relationship with MGB is part of the Florida-based system's overall strategy to transform health care through innovation, building on existing ties with academic and research organizations – including USF Health – improving high quality care and the best possible patient outcomes.

"This collaboration formalizes the long-standing relationship between Tampa General and Mass General Brigham. For years, our leadership, providers, researchers and teams have worked closely to share knowledge, information, findings and outcomes to elevate the level of care we offer," said John Couris, president and CEO, Tampa General. "As we look ahead, we're aiming to build a greater presence in the state of Florida, where patients can not only benefit from the exchange of knowledge, but also the best-in-class providers of both networks."

One of the first joint programs between TGH and MGB was the 2021 establishment of Home Base Florida on TGH's main campus, serving American veterans and service members. Begun at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), one of MGB's academic medical centers, in 2009 as a partnership with the Red Sox Foundation, Home Base is dedicated to healing the invisible wounds of war for veterans, service members and their families through world-class clinical care, wellness, education and research. Home Base Florida at TGH currently serves more than 375 veterans and service members per year at no cost to the patient. TGH and MGB plan to expand from health and wellness to also offering mental health services in the future.

"As an integrated health care system with patients at its center, it's important to align with institutions who share our core values to improve the communities we serve, promote equity and strive to advance the field of medicine to not only improve patient outcomes, but the lives of those we care for," said Anne Klibanski, MD, president and CEO, Mass General Brigham. "Our affiliation creates a high-quality system of care leveraging the strengths of a national academic system and a statewide academic system to meaningfully impact patient care across all of Florida."

Over their three years working together, TGH and MGB developed a bone marrow transplant program and cell therapies unit as part of the TGH Cancer Institute. The program serves patients with aggressive blood cancers, such as leukemias, lymphomas, multiple myeloma and other types of cancer. The program is housed in a brand-new, state-of-the-art unit and managed by best-in-class cancer specialists. Through the program, patients also have access to CAR T-cell therapy, a cancer immunotherapy that uses a patient's own T cells to fight cancer.

"This affiliation combines the expertise, experience, research and findings from two of the nation's leading academic health care systems," said Abe Schwarzberg, MD, executive vice president and chief of Oncology at Tampa General and president of Tampa General Provider Network. "We've already seen how our collaboration can benefit the patients we serve, and we're working to build on this success with more services and locations in Florida."

"We are excited to expand this relationship with Tampa General Hospital, an outstanding academic medical center with a highly talented leadership team," said Ron Walls, MD, chief operating officer, Mass General Brigham. "We share a commitment to the highest quality, safest, most expert and compassionate patient care informed by cutting edge research. That is the foundation of this consummate collaboration."

ABOUT TAMPA GENERAL HOSPITAL 

Tampa General Hospital, a 981-bed, not-for-profit, academic health system, 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 2024-2025 Best Hospitals, with two medical specialties ranking among the top 20 in the nation and eight medical specialties ranking among the top 50 best hospital programs in the United States. Tampa General Hospital has been designated as a model of excellence by the 2022 Fortune/Merative 100 Top Hospitals list. The academic health system's commitment to growing and developing its team members is recognized by three prestigious Forbes magazine rankings – in the top 100 nationally in the 2024 America's Best Large Employers, the top 50 in Florida in the 2024 America's Best Employers by State and the 2023 America's Best Employers for Women, Tampa General is the safety net hospital for the region, caring for everyone regardless of their ability to pay, and in fiscal year 2022, provided a net community benefit of approximately $240.3 million in the form of health care for underinsured patients, community education, and financial support to community health organizations in Tampa Bay. 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 Muma Children's Hospital at TGH, the Jennifer Leigh Muma 82-bed neonatal intensive care unit, and a nationally accredited rehabilitation center. Tampa General Hospital's footprint includes TGH North which is comprised of three hospitals and several outpatient locations in Citrus and Hernando counties, 17 Tampa General Medical Group Primary Care offices, TGH Family Care Center Kennedy, TGH Outpatient Center, TGH Virtual Health, and 21 TGH Imaging outpatient radiology centers throughout Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas and Palm Beach counties. Tampa Bay area residents also receive world-class care from the TGH Urgent Care powered by Fast Track network of clinics. To see a medical care professional live anytime, anywhere on a smartphone, tablet or computer, visit Virtual Health | Tampa General Hospital (tgh.org). As one of the largest hospitals in the country, Tampa General Hospital is the first in Florida to partner with GE Healthcare and open a clinical command center that provides real-time situational awareness to improve and better coordinate patient care at a lower cost. For more information, go to www.tgh.org.

ABOUT MASS GENERAL BRIGHAM

Mass General Brigham is an integrated academic health care system, uniting great minds to solve the hardest problems in medicine for our communities and the world. Mass General Brigham connects a full continuum of care across a system of academic medical centers, community and specialty hospitals, a health insurance plan, physician networks, community health centers, home care, and long-term care services. Mass General Brigham is a nonprofit organization committed to patient care, research, teaching, and service to the community. In addition, Mass General Brigham is one of the nation's leading biomedical research organizations with several Harvard Medical School teaching hospitals. For more information, please visit www.massgeneralbrigham.org.

SOURCE Tampa General Hospital