Tampa General, Israeli startups team up for top-quality health care

Tampa General Hospital has teamed up with Florida-Israel Business Accelerator (FIBA) to identify innovative and leading-edge patient care solutions.

The two are coming together to bring innovation and best practices from Israel to further strengthen Tampa General’s high-quality services.

“Innovation is so much more than new technology,” said John Couris, president and CEO of Tampa General Hospital. “It’s about reaching out for new partnerships and perspectives to explore groundbreaking ideas and apply world-class solutions in a meaningful, thoughtful way. We expect that our partnership with FIBA will significantly advance our vision to be the safest and most innovative academic health system in America.”

Working together, Tampa General and FIBA identified seven Israeli startup companies that have demonstrated the potential to develop efficient and quality-driven solutions in Tampa General Medical Group’s outpatient physician offices.

The seven companies participated in a six-week program consisting of weekly group and one-on-one sessions with FIBA advisers to prepare presentations for Tampa General’s ambulatory leadership team.

Of the seven selected companies, Tampa General will evaluate and select at least one company to pursue a software-based proof of concept project. Once the test project has been completed, Tampa General will implement the solution into their offices.

Solutions are expected to address challenges associated with manual administrative tasks, patient health information for pre-visit physician reporting, administrative workflow processes and the exam room experience.

This new collaboration is not the first partnership Tampa General Hospital has established with counterparts in Israel. Earlier this year, Tampa General and Sheba Medical Center, located near Tel Aviv, Israel, joined together for a three-year collaboration agreement. The two hospitals are working together on education, training, innovation and research. In addition, delegations of practitioners and researchers will travel to further the sharing of information and expertise.

Many of these efforts, partnerships and opportunities for collaboration with Israel were born during a trade mission to Israel in 2019 hosted by Gov. Ron DeSantis. He led a delegation of Florida businesses to Israel to establish alliances in science, business and academia.

“Returning to Florida, we bring with us prospects for investment, high-wage jobs, water conservation and innovative ideas to keep our schools and communities safe,” said Gov. DeSantis upon returning from his successful trip in May 2019.

Tampa General was recently named one of the Top 100 Hospitals by Newsweek, and the health care system is a regular on the Nation’s Best Hospitals, according to U.S. News & World Report.

TGH is on a mission to be the safest and most innovative academic health system in America, and it’s well on its way.

The Florida-Israel Business Accelerator is a Florida-based economic development program supported by Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity, Hillsborough County and the generous support of corporate sponsors and community philanthropists.

FIBA provides a soft landing for Israeli tech companies that are ready to expand into the U.S. market. FIBA offers entrepreneurs strategic alignment with corporate partners, facilitates introductions to prospective customers, strategic partners and investors, and encourages the companies to establish a presence in Florida and hire locally.