TGH Behavioral Health Hospital to expand
access to world-class care and strengthen health care workforce to
meet growing demand.
TAMPA,
Fla., May 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Tampa General
Hospital (TGH) and University of South
Florida (USF) celebrated today a new state law that names
the TGH Behavioral Health Hospital one of the first four behavioral
health teaching hospitals in the state of Florida and creates the Florida Center for
Behavioral Health Workforce within the University of South Florida's Louis de la Parte
Florida Mental Health Institute (FMHI).
Florida House Speaker Paul
Renner, Senator Jim Boyd, who
championed the legislation, and Senator Darryl Rouson, who co-sponsored the legislation,
joined John Couris, president and
CEO of Tampa General; Rhea Law,
president of USF; Tampa Mayor
Jane Castor; Dr. Charles Lockwood, executive vice president of
USF Health and dean of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine;
Dr. Ryan Wagoner, chair, USF
Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neurosciences at the USF
Health Morsani College of Medicine; Marty
Mann, chief development officer, Lifepoint Health; and
Kathy Bolmer, chief operating
officer, Lifepoint Health; on Monday at the site where the TGH
Behavioral Health Hospital is presently under construction. There,
they signed their names to a beam that will support the new
structure. The TGH Behavioral Health Hospital is a state-of-the-art
facility that will serve as one of the first and only freestanding
academic medical behavioral health hospitals in Florida.
"Tampa General is working to transform health care through
innovation. Across the nation, there is limited access to
behavioral health services and a workforce shortage unable to
support the growing need. We turned to our partners at the
University of South Florida and in the
state Legislature, to address the issue and craft a meaningful
solution that not only benefits the patients we treat at Tampa
General, but every community across the state of Florida," said Couris. "Now, with Senate Bill
330 signed into law, the TGH Behavioral Health Hospital is one of
the state's first behavioral health teaching hospitals, where
patients needing behavioral health services will have access to
academic-based, world-class care. Additionally, medical students
and residents will benefit from critical learning alongside Tampa
General's best-in-class providers, extending the reach of our care
as they advance their careers in behavioral health."
"As one of the nation's leading research universities, the
University of South Florida plays a
pivotal role in addressing critical challenges facing the
Tampa Bay area, the state of
Florida and our society," said
President Law. "USF is uniquely positioned to help with the growing
demand for behavioral health services, and alongside our partners
at Tampa General Hospital, we are committed to identifying bold
solutions that ensure a better future for our communities. We
sincerely appreciate our state leaders for their continued support
of our university and initiatives that benefit our region."
The Florida Legislature passed Senate Bill 330, sponsored by
Senators Boyd and Rouson in the Senate and Representative
Sam Garrison in the House, during
the 2024 legislative session to create a behavioral health teaching
hospital designation in state statute. The bill, signed by the
Governor into law, names Tampa General, in partnership with USF
Health, as the first of just four behavioral health teaching
hospitals in the state.
"I would like to congratulate Tampa General Hospital for being
designated as one of the first freestanding behavioral health
teaching hospitals in the state," said Speaker Renner. "Thank you,
President Passidomo, Representative Garrison and Senator Boyd, for
your leadership in providing this opportunity to train and retain
medical professionals to help those with mental health and
substance abuse issues. Floridians will benefit from the care,
research and learning provided by our new behavioral health
teaching hospitals, and I'm excited to see TGH lead on this
innovative effort."
"On the state level, we're doing everything we can to ensure
Floridians have access to the care they need," said Senator Boyd.
"Working with Tampa General and USF, we crafted meaningful policy
solutions that not only expand access to behavioral health care but
also educate the next generation of providers."
"Today marks a pivotal moment for our state's commitment to
behavioral health care access," said Senator Rouson. "With this
partnership between the University of South
Florida and Tampa General Hospital, we are laying the
foundation for a healthier future for our community. This
collaboration of academia and health care will nurture a robust
workforce to meet the growing demand for quality care across
Florida."
The new law was designed to advance Florida's behavioral health systems of care by
creating a new integrated care and education model. With an
emphasis on research, the behavioral health teaching hospitals will
provide inpatient and outpatient behavioral health care, address
system-wide behavioral health needs, and provide treatment and care
for those who need long-term voluntary or involuntary civil
commitment. In collaboration with the state, universities and
private organizations, behavioral health teaching hospitals will
also provide leading-edge education and training to strengthen
Florida's behavioral health
workforce.
The legislation established a statewide center to focus on
recruitment and retention efforts and expand pathways to behavioral
health professionals. Lawmakers selected USF as the ideal home for
the Florida Center for Behavioral Health. USF's College of
Behavioral and Community Sciences is uniquely positioned to support
this initiative because of its interdisciplinary and collaborative
focus on behavioral sciences and its portfolio of research
conducted over the past 50 years.
"This is a milestone for Tampa General Hospital and for our
city, as our medical industry grows and provides our residents with
world-class health services and employment opportunities," said
Mayor Castor. "TGH has served our community for generations and
this type of expansion will only enhance its impact on the lives of
countless Tampanians and others who come to our city seeking the
best care available."
The TGH Behavioral Health Hospital, expected to open in 2025,
will offer highly specialized and personalized care for many
behavioral and mental health conditions. Tampa General has teamed
up with Lifepoint Behavioral Health, which specializes in
providing compassionate care across the behavioral health care
continuum, to manage daily operations. Physicians with the
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences at USF
Morsani College of Medicine (USF Health) will offer a full range of
inpatient and outpatient care in specialized units for child,
adolescent, adult and geriatric patients.
"This project recognizes the urgent need to better address
chronic mental illness in this country," said Dr. Lockwood. "As a
society, we must do more to improve mental health services and
increase access and adherence to high quality mental health care.
Fortunately, here in Tampa Bay, we
are poised to do just that. Our partnership with Tampa General
Hospital and Lifepoint Behavioral Health will offer a full range of
complex innovative mental health care, improved access, and
cutting-edge research for those who need it most."
"Our team at Lifepoint Behavioral Health has a vision for
expanding access to evidence-driven behavioral health care in the
communities we serve," said Bolmer. "We are proud to work alongside
our partners, Tampa General Hospital and the University of South Florida, as we bring one of the
state's first behavioral health teaching hospitals to patients here
in Tampa and the surrounding
region. The work we do at TGH Behavioral Health Hospital will not
only benefit the patients who walk through our doors in
Tampa but will help shape
life-saving and life-changing care for patients throughout the
state in need of mental health support. We look forward to all we
will accomplish together as we advance our mission of making
communities healthier."
The TGH Behavioral Health Hospital is located at 1303 West
Kennedy Boulevard. It will serve as an integral part of the Tampa
Medical and Research District, a hub of world-class clinical care,
academics, research and biotechnology, anchored by TGH and USF
Health. The hospital is planned to be approximately 83,000 square
feet with 96 inpatient beds and will feature dedicated space for
treating patients with behavioral health issues compounded by other
medical conditions.
The demand for behavioral and mental health services is greater
than ever before. According to the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services, nearly one in four Americans lives with a mental
illness. Across the nation, more than half of the population lives
in an area with a shortage of mental health professionals.
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 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 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 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 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, 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.
ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH
FLORIDA
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. With campuses in Tampa, St.
Petersburg and Sarasota-Manatee, USF serves approximately 50,000
students who represent nearly 150 different countries. U.S.
News & World Report has ranked USF as one of the nation's top
50 public universities for five consecutive years, and this year
USF earned its highest ranking ever among all universities public
or private. In 2023, USF became the first public university in
Florida in nearly 40 years to be
invited to join the Association of American Universities, a
prestigious group of the leading universities in the United States and Canada. Through hundreds of millions of
dollars in research activity each year and as one of the top
universities in the world for securing new patents, USF is a leader
in solving global problems and improving lives. USF is a member of
the American Athletic Conference. Learn more
at www.usf.edu.
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.
TGH Media
Contact:
Amanda Bevis
(202) 680-9262
cell
amanda@redhillsfl.com
|
USF Media
Contact:
Sarah Worth
(813) 928-0861
cell
sworth@usf.edu
|
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SOURCE Tampa General Hospital