Tampa General Hospital to Build New Behavioral Health Hospital

TAMPA, Fla., Feb. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Tampa General Hospital announced that The Florida Health Sciences Board—the Hospital's governing board—has approved the construction of the TGH Behavioral Health Hospital, a new four-story hospital in the heart of Tampa's medical district.

The construction of the hospital represents not only the next building block in growing Tampa's ever-expanding medical district, but it will provide a critical link from academics to treatment as the hospital will provide a full range of inpatient and outpatient services led by the region's leading psychiatrists from USF Health, and offer learning opportunities for medical students and residents at USF Health Morsani College Medicine. Additionally, the hospital will be directly linked to TGH's nationally recognized Neurosciences Institute, through which best-in-class physicians provide a full spectrum of care to patients of all ages suffering from neurological disorders.

"Tampa General is committed to meeting the wide spectrum of health and wellness needs of our community, including all aspects of behavioral health which are more in demand than ever before," stated John Couris, president and CEO of Tampa General Hospital. "Working side-by-side with USF Health, the new TGH Behavioral Health Hospital will provide critical academically driven behavioral health care, support the next generation of behavioral health physicians and fortify Tampa's growing medical district, while moving TGH one step closer to being the country's safest and most innovative academic medical center."

TGH Behavioral Health Hospital will be located in Downtown Tampa, adjacent to the new Tampa General Rehabilitation Hospital, and will further power Tampa's medical district that drives talent, biotech, and venture capital to the region, transforming Tampa into a complete ecosystem of health care innovation.

The new hospital is projected to be approximately 83,000 square feet. It will include 96 inpatient beds with the potential to expand to 120 beds. Tampa General Hospital will lead the management of the hospital and renowned physicians with the USF Health Department of Psychiatry will provide leading-edge, compassionate care to an expansive patient population. The hospital is expected to break ground in late 2022/early 2023 and officially open in late 2024.

Staffed by USF Health physicians, the region's experts in academic psychiatric medicine, the TGH Behavioral Health Hospital will further meet the growing demand for mental health services in our community while serving as an integral part of TGH and USF's emerging medical district in Tampa. 

"We are proud to provide the highest level of academic psychiatric care in the region and look forward to offering this same standard of critical care in the new behavioral health hospital as part of our continued alignment with TGH," said Charles J. Lockwood, MD, MHCM, senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. "Together, we are working to make Tampa Bay a destination for the finest health care in Florida and the Southeastern United States." 

With a focus on education as well as care and research, the new hospital will provide hands-on learning opportunities for USF Health Morsani College of Medicine students and on-the-job training for resident physicians in the field of psychiatry. With an increased need for care and a shortage of behavioral health practitioners in the region, the hospital will also serve as a recruitment tool to attract new medical residents and psychiatrists to Tampa Bay while increasing access to quality care.

"This new hospital will be a valuable resource and help raise the level of mental health care across the Tampa Bay area," said Glenn Currier, MD, MPH, professor, and chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. "A facility like this, one that is dedicated to the needs specific to patients with behavioral and mental health conditions, especially those experiencing acute crises or complex conditions, will be an incredible asset. This specialized hospital will also ease the burden on area emergency rooms, which take in the bulk of psychiatric emergencies but have few options for the inpatient care that is so critical for successful management of many behavioral and mental health conditions."

Finally, the hospital will serve as a Central Receiving Facility (CRF), operating as the first point of evaluation and care, providing initial emergent evaluations for individuals in the community going through a behavioral health crisis. Patients experiencing mental health emergencies would receive emergent evaluation via the CRF and intensive stabilization with an immediate assessment to determine the safest treatment plan beyond the initial crisis.

ABOUT TAMPA GENERAL HOSPITAL
Tampa General Hospital, a 1,041-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 2021-22 Best Hospitals, and one of the top 4 hospitals in Florida, with five specialties ranking among the best programs in the United States. The academic medical center's commitment to growing and developing its team members is recognized by two prestigious 2021 Forbes magazine rankings – America's Best Employers by State, third out of 100 Florida companies and first among health care and social organizations and 13^th nationally in 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 2020 provided a net community benefit worth more than $182.5 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 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 the 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.

ABOUT USF HEALTH
USF Health's mission is to envision and implement the future of health. It is the partnership of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, the College of Nursing, the College of Public Health, the Taneja College of Pharmacy, the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences, the Biomedical Sciences Graduate and Postdoctoral Programs, and USF Health's multispecialty physicians' group. The University of South Florida is a high-impact global research university dedicated to student success. Over the past 10 years, no other public university in the country has risen faster in U.S. News & World Report's national university rankings than USF. For more information, visit health.usf.edu.

SOURCE Tampa General Hospital