Tampa General, Lifepoint Health and USF Health Celebrate Opening of Florida's First Behavioral Health Teaching Hospital

The TGH Behavioral Health Hospital offers specialized and personalized care for behavioral and mental health conditions.

TAMPA, Fla., Feb. 25, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Tampa General Hospital (TGH), Lifepoint Health, and the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine formally cut the ribbon today and celebrated the grand opening of the TGH Behavioral Health Hospital.

The TGH Behavioral Health Hospital, located in the center of the Tampa Medical &Research District (TMRD), is Florida's first and only freestanding academic medical center-affiliated behavioral health hospital. It results from a joint venture between TGH and Lifepoint Behavioral Health, a business unit of Lifepoint Health.

"With the opening of TGH Behavioral Health Hospital, we are making a significant leap forward in addressing the pressing need for mental health services in our community and across Florida," said John Couris, president and CEO of Tampa General Hospital. "This facility is more than just a hospital—it is a beacon of hope for patients and their families, offering compassionate, personalized care provided by world-class academic-based physicians with access to the latest research and cutting-edge technologies."

The TGH Behavioral Health Hospital, located at 1303 West Kennedy Boulevard, opens to the public in March. The new building spans approximately 83,000 square feet and features 96 inpatient beds. As a higher level of care for patients in crisis due to a mental health condition, inpatient treatment will offer personalized 24-hour care consisting of medication management, safety planning and therapy, both group and individual. In the next few months, partial hospitalization and outpatient treatment services will be available.

"We believe partnerships like this one are transformative for our communities," said David Dill, chairman and chief executive officer of Lifepoint Health. "Our team first partnered with Tampa General in 2020 to build the TGH Rehabilitation Hospital, and expanding on our work together to bring additional specialty services to the region was a natural next step. By leveraging the respective strengths of Lifepoint, TGH and USF Health, this hospital will have an outsized impact on access to vitally needed mental and behavioral healthcare in Florida. We know that accessible care changes lives in innumerable ways, which is why it's the driving force behind Lifepoint's mission of making communities healthier."

The hospital's expert team of academic-medicine-based USF Health psychiatrists and psychologists, supported by Tampa General therapists and specialized nursing staff, will work collaboratively to provide personalized treatment plans tailored to each patient's needs.

"Through our comprehensive academic, research and clinical activities, the University of South Florida is uniquely positioned to help address the growing demand for behavioral health services in our community, and we are proud to take part in this important initiative alongside our partners at Tampa General Hospital," University of South Florida President Rhea Law said. "We deeply appreciate our state leaders for supporting this project that will provide significant impacts for patients and for recognizing the immense value that TGH and USF Health contribute to our region, our state and beyond."

Tampa General tapped Doug Leonardo to serve as the president and CEO of the TGH Behavioral Health Hospital. Leonardo brings more than 25 years of experience in behavioral health, having developed and implemented strategies to increase access to care, improve the cost of care and develop services in new markets. He has successfully integrated behavioral health care services at 12 hospitals and emergency departments in Florida's largest metropolitan areas.

"This is the start of a new era in mental health care, combining academic excellence with patient-centered treatment," said Leonardo. "The TGH Behavioral Health Hospital will transform the landscape of behavioral health services in Florida, ensuring that individuals and families receive the support they need for mental wellness and recovery."

The opening of the TGH Behavioral Health Hospital comes at a pivotal moment, as mental health needs continue to rise across the nation. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, nearly one in four Americans lives with a mental illness, and more than half the U.S. population resides in an area with a shortage of mental health professionals.

"The TGH Behavioral Health Hospital is a prime example of how the public and private sectors can work together to bridge the gap in mental health services," said Senator Kathleen Passidomo. "We are proud to work with Tampa General to set the standard for the nation in quality and access to care."

The Florida Legislature passed Senate Bill 330 during the 2024 legislative session to create a behavioral health teaching hospital designation in state statute. The law names the TGH Behavioral Health Hospital as the first of just four behavioral health teaching hospitals in the state.

The TGH Behavioral Health Hospital will serve as a key behavioral health training and education center. As Florida's first designated behavioral health teaching hospital, it will provide invaluable hands-on learning opportunities for medical students and residents from USF Health's Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences at the Morsani College of Medicine. Click here for photos and videos.

Media Contacts

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 was the nation's busiest adult solid organ transplant center in 2024 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, two TGH Outpatient Centers, TGH Virtual Health, and 20 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 the 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 LIFEPOINT HEALTH
Lifepoint Health is a leading healthcare provider that serves patients, clinicians, communities and partner organizations across the healthcare continuum. Driven by a mission of making communities healthier®, the company has a growing diversified healthcare delivery network comprised of more than 50,000 dedicated employees, 62 community hospital campuses, more than 60 rehabilitation and behavioral health hospitals and 250 additional sites of care, including managed acute rehabilitation units, outpatient centers and post-acute care facilities. Through its innovation strategy, Lifepoint Forward, the company is developing meaningful solutions to enhance quality, increase access to care, and improve value across the Lifepoint footprint and communities across the country. For more information about the company, visit www.LifepointHealth.net.

ABOUT LIFEPOINT BEHAVIORAL HEALTH
Lifepoint Behavioral Health specializes in providing compassionate care across the behavioral healthcare continuum. Through its 24 behavioral health hospitals and contract management and joint venture partnerships with hospitals and providers across the country, Lifepoint Behavioral Health offers programs designed to address the unique needs of various patient populations, including adolescents, adults and geriatrics. Lifepoint Behavioral Health has diversified programming, allowing specific therapy models of treatment while encompassing the whole person. These treatment models provide evidence-based therapies with distinct short- and long-term goals of improving and sustaining mental health. Lifepoint Behavioral Health is a business unit of Brentwood, Tennessee-based Lifepoint Health.

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, a high-impact research university dedicated to student success and committed to community engagement, generates an annual economic impact of more than $6 billion. Through hundreds of millions of dollars in research activity each year, USF is a leader in solving global problems and improving lives. For more information, visit health.usf.edu.

SOURCE Tampa General Hospital