“Our vision at Tampa General is to become the safest and most innovative academic health system in America,” said John Couris, president and CEO of Tampa General Hospital. “It is critical that we continue to bring the most advanced technology and cutting-edge care to our patients in Florida and beyond. This is the largest master facility plan expansion in our hospital’s history, and it is an investment in our patients, in our academic health system, and in our community. It’s a key part of our efforts to improve the lives and health of Floridians.”

Tampa General Hospital is one of the most comprehensive academic medical facilities in Florida, serving a dozen counties with a population of over five million people – and growing at a rapid rate of 1.4 percent each year. With this growth, Tampa General projects an increase of patient admissions of 0.9 percent by the end of the decade.

Tampa General is strategically initiating this comprehensive master facility plan as part of its commitment to serving the Tampa Bay region’s increasing health care needs through its role as the area’s leading safety net hospital. In fiscal 2020, the academic medical center provided 34 percent of health charity care costs in Hillsborough and 17 percent across the Tampa Bay area. For that same period, Tampa General 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.

“This $550 million capital commitment allows us to invest in innovation and supports the creation of tomorrow’s TGH. We are truly building into the future,” said Kelly Cullen, EVP and chief operating officer of Tampa General.

Cullen is leading the development and implementation of the multi-year master facility plan.

Tampa General will add to both its geographic footprint and its vertical profile as it adds the following improvements and new structures:

• New ICU – now open, this project added 34 ICU rooms with upgraded and advanced care technologies
• Bayshore Pavilion vertical expansion – the project will add four floors to Tampa General’s Bayshore Pavilion (above the Emergency Department), providing 12 new operating rooms and 100 new beds
• Regional Burn Center renovation and expansion – now underway, this project will provide larger rooms, more efficient layouts and the new design will be complete in May 2022
• Renovate main operating room suite – the project will renovate operating rooms and modernize and upgrade equipment
• Freestanding emergency department – located one mile from the hospital’s main campus on Kennedy Boulevard and North Willow Avenue, the 15,000-square-foot facility will provide additional ED capacity to serve community needs
• New corporate parking garage – an eight-story, 2,000-space parking garage will be built at the TGH Corporate Center off Kennedy Boulevard to consolidate off-site team member parking
• TGH Brandon Healthplex Oncology Institute – new clinic space will be added to provide multidisciplinary integrated oncology services: a hub for diagnostic testing, treatments, and support services
• Purchase of Hillsborough Community College Davis Islands building – this building, adjacent to the main hospital campus, will be outfitted for administrative, education and training space
• Central energy plant expansion – the project will expand power generation capabilities to provide 100 percent redundant protected power
• Off-site sterile processing facility – this project will move sterile processing off of the hospital campus to streamline operational efficiencies to support surgical services operations

Construction of these projects will run from now through 2026. As TGH updates and adds to the 25-acre campus, covering over 3 million square feet, Tampa General will also renovate the main lobby of the hospital’s main campus, which will improve patient and visitor flow and efficiency.

The strategic master facility plan will have an estimated total economic impact of over $967 million for the Tampa Bay region and will create more than 5,952 total jobs.

The master facility plan launched in June with the opening of Tampa General’s new Intensive Care Unit, a $17.5 million project that includes 34 state-of-the-art ICU rooms and approximately 27,500 square feet of space. All rooms are equipped to become negative air pressure rooms to care for infectious diseases patients. The unit also features new “patient rooms of the future,” equipped with advanced care technologies.

These rooms allow caregivers to:

• Increase efficiency for our physicians and nurses to serve up information they need to provide better patient care
• Provide virtual care where patients can virtually connect with their family/loved ones, as well as physicians
• Support emergency events that use technology in the rooms by automating code blue identification

With the addition of the new unit, Tampa General, one of the largest hospitals in the nation, now has 1,041 beds.

“The opening of this ICU is a major milestone in Tampa General’s history as the first step of the master facility plan,” said Phillip S. Dingle, chairman of the TGH Board of Directors. “This master facility plan is designed to benefit our team members, physicians, patients and our entire community. Tampa General is growing along with our community and creating jobs and making an economic impact for the region.  It is our duty to make sure that we can continue to live our shared purpose – to care for everyone, every day. These investments allow us to do just that.”