Peter Schorsch
Make more room in the Tampa General trophy case for two new national rankings announced this week.
Tampa General Hospital (TGH) completed 756 transplants last year, making it the No. 4 center for transplants by volume in the nation. In addition, Becker’s listed the academic health system among the top 20 hospitals in its annual Becker’s Hospital Review “100 Largest Hospitals and Health Systems in the U.S.”
“This is a tremendous achievement for our organization that reflects the clinical expertise of our team, and their commitment to excellence and leveraging technology to drive innovation. It’s also a testament to the exceptional quality of care patients find at Tampa General Hospital,” said John Couris, president and CEO of Tampa General Hospital. “As one of the top five centers in the nation for transplants by volume, Tampa General performs hundreds of transplants each year. More transplants lead to greater proficiency, which produces better patient outcomes.”
The transplants performed last year at TGH were up 11% over 2022. Of the 756 transplants performed, 459 were kidney transplants and 209 were liver transplants — making TGH second in the nation by volume for kidney transplants and fourth for liver transplants. TGH also performed heart, lung and kidney/pancreas operations and successfully completed five living donor transplants.
“Our collective success can be attributed to several factors, but the primary reason is the dedication of our team,” said Dr. Kiran Dhanireddy, vice president and chief of the TGH Transplant Institute. “As the only academic medical center on the west coast of Florida, we serve the patients with the most complex health challenges. We combine our clinical expertise with the latest innovations to utilize more organs and provide greater access to transplants for our community.”
The national transplant ranking is timely as TGH celebrates this year the 50th anniversary of the TGH Transplant Institute and reflects on the more than 13,250 transplants the center has performed since its first transplant in 1974.
The top five hospitals in the country for volume of transplants in 2023 rank as follows: Mayo Clinic Hospital Arizona (843), University of California San Francisco Medical Center (803), The Cleveland Clinic Foundation (783), Tampa General Hospital (756) and Vanderbilt University (739).
Tampa General is one of just four hospitals in Florida included among the top 20 according to the 2023 Becker’s Hospital Review “100 Largest Hospitals and Health Systems in the U.S.” list.
The rapidly expanding academic health system now encompasses six hospitals — an academic medical center, three community hospitals, a behavioral health hospital and a dedicated rehabilitation hospital — and more than 150 care locations throughout Hillsborough, Citrus, Hernando, Pasco, Pinellas and Palm Beach counties. The network is supported by nearly 14,000 team members with the recent acquisition of the Bravera Health network and its affiliated care locations in Citrus and Hernando counties.
Plans for future expansion were announced in December, when the city of Tampa approved the rezoning of Davis Islands for the construction of a 13-story Surgical, Neuroscience & Transplant Pavilion, which will add an additional 144 patient beds and 32 operating suites, increased intensive care unit (ICU) capacity and space for education and training, emergency response and sterile processing, along with two floors reserved for future growth.
“We’re experiencing a rapid transformation at Tampa General to realize our vision of expanding access to world-class care across the state,” said Stacey Brandt, Tampa General’s executive vice president and chief administrative officer. “This level of growth necessitates creative thinking, pushing boundaries and reimagining the status quo, which is not always an easy feat in health care. Our team’s tireless work on these fronts, combined with their dedication to our future as a system, are the basis for this recognition, and I am proud of all we continue to achieve and advance together.”
