Tampa General Hospital Named One of Newsweek's Best Smart Hospitals for 2024

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Sep 21, 2023, 16:11 ET

The academic health system is recognized for its pioneering use of technology, including artificial intelligence and digital innovation.

TAMPA, Fla., Sept. 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Tampa General Hospital (TGH) has been recognized as one of the World's Best Smart Hospitals for 2024 by Newsweek and Statista. This prestigious global accolade is a testament to Tampa General's commitment to harnessing cutting-edge technology to enable world-class patient care, improve care coordination and streamline hospital operations.

"As a leading academic health system, driving innovation is essential to our commitment to providing world-class care," said John Couris, president and CEO of Tampa General Hospital. "This recognition demonstrates our team's focus on adopting forward-thinking advancements in technology to maximize new approaches. The end result is better treatments and outcomes for patients now and long into future."

The World's Best Smart Hospitals 2024 rankings showcase the top 330 hospitals globally that are at the forefront of smart health care technologies. This recognition is the result of a comprehensive evaluation process that encompassed recommendations from more than 2,000 hospital managers and medical professionals across 28 countries. Hospitals were assessed in five key sub-categories:

Electronic functionalities
Telemedicine
Digital imaging
Artificial intelligence
Robotics

Tampa General's journey to world-class care is guided by its vision of technology as a crucial element in delivering excellence. In the past year, the academic health system has implemented predictive analytics and artificial intelligence.

One standout example of Tampa General's success in this realm is its partnership with GE Healthcare and the utilization of the CareComm command center. Similar to air traffic control, CareComm functions as a command center for patient care consistently gathering thousands of data points to provide insights, identify trends and drive decisions.

In 2022, Tampa General partnered with Palantir, a leading analytics platform to employ artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to augment critical decision-making on the front lines. Both GE and Palantir have been instrumental in the development and execution of Tampa General's early warning system for the prevention and treatment of sepsis, a potentially life-threatening response to an infection in the body that can move with lightning speed.

Clinical data was aggregated to predict the onset of sepsis and prioritize the activation of a rapid-response team intervention. The predictive analytics algorithm monitors real-time information from Tampa General's electronic health record (EHR) and uses weighted rules-based logic to flag patients at high risk for sepsis.

As a result of this effort, the academic health system has seen a dramatic reduction in mortality from sepsis in patients admitted to the hospital. The mortality rate due to sepsis was reduced by 3% — which accounts for close to 200 lives saved since implementation.

"We're honored to have earned a place among Newsweek's World's Best Smart Hospitals 2024. I attribute this recognition to the continuous innovation driven by our team," said Scott Arnold, executive vice president and chief information officer at Tampa General Hospital. "The latest technologies taking the health care industry by storm — whether artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, telehealth, or something else — are the future of how we can better support our team members and deliver the best care possible to our community."

For more information about the World's Best Smart Hospitals 2024 rankings, please visit this link.

ABOUT TAMPA GENERAL HOSPITAL
Tampa General Hospital, a 1,040-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 and World Report's 2023-24 Best Hospitals, with six 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 two prestigious Forbes magazine rankings – in the top 100 nationally in the 2023 America's Best Employers for Women and top 25 in Florida in the 2023 America's Best Employers by State. Tampa General is the safety net hospital for the region, caring for everyone regardless of their ability to pay, and in fiscal year 2021, provided a net community benefit worth more than $224.5 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 six 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 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 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.