Part 2: Tampa General Hospital: Delivering World-Class Patient Care Throughout the Southeast

“We have spent the last 15 months successfully responding to a global pandemic. We came together with our colleagues from across the region to collectively care for and improve health outcomes for our community, and we understood that we were responsible for safeguarding our community’s health. Tampa General and University of South Florida teams led on the frontlines and leaned in to help find solutions to every problem the pandemic put in our path. I was asked to provide a health care leader’s perspective on Governor DeSantis’ Re-Open Florida Task Force. We hosted Vice President Mike Pence and other members of the White House’s coronavirus response task force for a roundtable discussion on Tampa General’s response to the global pandemic. We shared interactive data among 51 area hospitals to ensure equitable hospital access and safely reopen businesses. Finally, we implemented rapid testing for front-line workers, including teachers, and were among the country’s first sites to administer the COVID-19 vaccine after FDA approval.”

 

Moving forward and under the auspices of the Global Emerging Diseases Institute, Couris says that they are now working on research and development of medical interventions to mitigate the impact and spread of COVID-19.

 

“For example, and in collaboration with USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, we have established one of the very few in-house COVID-19 genomic sequencing hospital laboratories in Florida. Here, our physician-scientists are currently performing in-house sequencing tests to identify and track COVID-19 variants,” he says. “The data are uploaded to a global database (GISAID) to track the variants and are provided to the Florida Department of Health as well.”

 

Tampa General Hospital’s services also extends beyond the four walls of the hospital. With 80 specialty centers across the region and with a footprint that literally extends across the state from west coast to east coast, they are committed to providing affordable, high-quality care to individuals throughout Florida.

 

“Our asset-light strategy allows us to have outpatient centers for everything from imaging to urgent care to surgical centers in highly accessible low-cost environments,” says Couris. “Patients in need of more complex care are then brought to the main campus for treatment.

As we continue to expand our reach, we have invested significant resources into the comprehensive care of East Coast Floridians.”

 

Today, Tampa General serves the Treasure Coast’s oncology patients through a new alliance between Tampa General Hospital and the Cancer Center of South Florida. In its two locations in Palm Beach County, the new Tampa General Hospital Cancer Institute now enables cancer patients on the East Coast to receive our leading-edge services right in their own backyard. In addition, they recently developed a partnership with Gastro Group of the Palm Beaches, forming the Tampa General Hospital Gastro Group of the Palm Beaches, providing patients in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast with world-class gastrointestinal care at two locations close to home.

 

A key component of their expansion includes working directly with and employing local Palm Beach and Treasure Coast physicians, aggregating more specialists into the Tampa General network to provide comprehensive treatment options across multiple specialties. When patients need more interventionist complex treatment, they can come across the state to the Tampa General campus. Here, Tampa General specialists work in collaboration with East Coast physicians to provide the comprehensive treatment options in a seamless, coordinated manner.

 

Couris says that he discovered his passion for health care during his first job when he worked as an orderly at a nursing home outside of Boston.

 

“Throughout my 25-plus-year career in the industry, I have focused on helping patients and teams grow and thrive,” he says. “My spectrum of experience has provided me with the perspective and tool kit to ensure my teams can provide world-class quality care to our patients and I can support them while they do their incredible work. As CEO, my primary responsibility is developing an organizational culture that is built on authenticity, kindness, vulnerability, and transparency in order to best care and support my team as they care for our community.”

 

In addition to being one of the leading academic medical centers in the state and in the country, Couris stresses their ongoing commitment to partnering and collaborating with physicians to provide the most efficient, high-quality and cost-effective care possible for patients.

 

“Through the practice of world-class care, we continue to offer a value proposition that is second to none,” he says. “This is only made possible through our physician partnerships, collaborating with them on what is most important to them as a way to better serve patients and the community. Through efficiency, innovation and a commitment to excellence, we offer our doctors the resources and support they need to care for their patients at the highest level possible.”

 

Couris believes his primary and fundamental responsibility is to his team and physician partners. He recognizes that if they have what they need to succeed and feel supported, their patients are better served.

 

“For our team members, we developed a host of programs to support their professional growth and development,” he says. “Through a collaboration with USF Muma College of Business, our new People Development Institute provides next-level training and skill acquisition. The Institute also will provide management training at all levels so our organizational culture and values can be reflected in all that we do.”

 

Recognizing the tremendous hard work and the immense value of its physician partners, Tampa General launched a program that looks at the physician as a whole person as well as addressing their well-being, which was perhaps never more important than in 2020.

 

“This initiative, Physician+, is built on direct physician input and feedback and has offerings for the mind (lunchtime CME seminars, a stress management program), body (executive fitness facility, pre-order take-home meals) and spirit (renovated physicians lounge, 24/7 concierge service),” Couris says. “At the end of the day, we want to be our physicians’ medical home for now and long into the future.”