Shriners Healthcare for Children — Florida enhances collaboration with Tampa General Hospital for pediatric surgeries
TAMPA, Florida (August 27, 2019) – Pediatric patients at Shriners Healthcare for Children — Florida will now have the ability to have any needed surgeries performed at Tampa General Hospital under a new agreement.
After Shriners Healthcare for Children — Florida recently transitioned to an outpatient care model, it needed a local affiliation with a known surgical presence.
“The decision was based on health care patterns,” said Fleury Yelvington, Shriners Healthcare for Children – Florida, Administrator. “As health care needs have changed, especially in pediatric care, we’ve found a reduced need for inpatient hospital care.”
Tampa General, the region’s Level 1 Trauma Center and the hospital ranked #1 in Tampa Bay by US News and World Report was a natural choice. This agreement enhances a long-standing relationship between these two preeminent healthcare organizations. Tampa General offers all of the pediatric subspecialties that Shriners Healthcare patient families need. Its long history of high volume and high-quality pediatric care aligns with the overall mission of the Shriners Hospitals for Children healthcare system, making Tampa General Hospital the ideal surgical and inpatient pediatric care choice for Shriners’ patients and families.
“We’re proud that we could work together with Shriners in providing the best possible care for these young patients, and we appreciate their recognition of our surgical expertise,” said John Couris, president and CEO of Tampa General. “When strong community institutions look for innovative ways to work together, we can do more to help improve health in Tampa Bay.”
Despite this shift in the delivery of care model, Shriners Healthcare physicians will still be evaluating pediatric patients in need of Shriners’ specialized expertise at its current clinic location. Thereafter surgeries will be scheduled, in collaboration with the patient and family, as surgeries off-site at TGH. These physicians are also credentialed members of the Tampa General medical staff.
The Tampa Shriners focus on outpatient, same-day specialty services for which Shriners is renowned, like prosthetic and wheelchair fittings or rehabilitation treatment — among other clinical care — will continue at the current location, 12502 USF Pine Drive in Tampa.
ABOUT SHRINERS HEALTHCARE FOR CHILDREN — FLORIDA
Nearly 60,000 children have received pediatric specialty care in a family-centered environment at Shriners Healthcare for Children — Florida (formerly Shriners Hospitals for Children – Tampa) since its opening in October 1985. Shriners Healthcare Florida continues to focus on providing the highest quality pediatric medical care to children regardless of the family’s ability to pay and relies on the generosity of donors to sustain its mission. Located on the University of South Florida campus, the Tampa facility is a major referral center for complex and highly specialized orthopaedic treatment for children throughout Florida and South Georgia. Visit shrinershospitalsforchildren.org/tampa for more information. “Like” us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SHCTampa. Follow us at https://twitter.com/SHCFlorida and on Instagram at www.instagram.com/shcflorida.
ABOUT TAMPA GENERAL HOSPITAL
Tampa General Hospital, a 1007-bed non-profit academic medical center, delivers world-class care as the region’s only center for Level l trauma and comprehensive burn care. 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. Advancing medicine through innovation, Tampa General houses a nationally accredited comprehensive stroke center, an 82-bed Level IV neonatal intensive care unit, and a state-certified spinal cord and brain injury rehabilitation center. For more information, go to www.tgh.org.
ABOUT SHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN
Shriners Hospitals for Children is changing lives every day through innovative pediatric specialty care, world-class research and outstanding medical education. Our health care system provides advanced care for children with orthopaedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate, regardless of the families’ ability to pay. Shriners Hospitals for Children is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and relies on the generosity of donors. All donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent permitted by law. For more information, please visit shrinershospitalsforchildren.org.