Tampa General and USF Health launch USF Tampa General Physicians, a new physician management service organization to better care for patients of the Tampa Bay region.
Tampa General Hospital and USF Health announced that on Jan. 1, 2022, they officially launched USF Tampa General Physicians (USFTGP), a new organization dedicated to providing a unified management and support structure for physicians of both USF Health and Tampa General Medical Group, making it one of the largest academic medical groups in the state of Florida.
The creation of the USF Tampa General Physicians follows more than a year of transition planning since announcing the broadened affiliation in July 2020.
“Tampa General Hospital is on a path to become the safest and most innovative academic health system in the country and our affiliation with USF Health gets us closer to achieving that vision,” stated John Couris, president and CEO of Tampa General Hospital. “USF Tampa General Physicians represents an elevation of our already established and dynamic alliance and will further our collaboration on key priorities and share a greater level of resources.”
USF Tampa General Physicians will help drive growth, improve quality, and increase access to world-class, academic medical care across the community. Academic medical centers provide cutting-edge specialized care for the most complex and challenging illnesses and conditions, as well as provide patients with access to innovative research and clinical trials and train the next generation of health care professionals.
USF Tampa General Physicians will also serve as a recruiting tool for leading academic physicians from across the country and represents a new framework for physician management services. USF Tampa General Physicians will further elevate the reputation of both organizations as the collective force behind the region’s preeminent academic medical center, attract additional research dollars and help support the economic engine of the medical district here in Tampa Bay.
The alliance will benefit patients by elevating and enhancing the growth of West Florida’s leading academic medical center.
“USF Tampa General Physicians is a jointly created academic medical group between USF Health and Tampa General Hospital and represents the best medical care available in the Tampa Bay region and beyond. It is a comprehensive and sustainable affiliation that formally joins shared clinical, research, and teaching efforts from both organizations,” said Charles J. Lockwood, MD, MHCM, senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. “Ultimately, this organization will help Tampa Bay become a center for the finest health care in Florida, and potentially the Southeastern United States.”
Approximately 1,400 clinical personnel will comprise USF Tampa General Physicians to serve and support physicians employed by Tampa General Medical Group and USF Health. USF Tampa General Physicians will provide practice infrastructure, clinical management, and related operational and administrative support services. The new group also will benefit the private practice physicians on staff at Tampa General Hospital by offering purchased services and management services through the new organization.
USF Tampa General Physicians is currently led by interim co-presidents Dan Vukmer, senior associate vice president and chief strategy officer for USF Health, and Steve Short, advisor for special projects at TGH. A national search is underway to recruit a recognized leader in the field to lead the organization and serve as its first president.
