A growing relationship with Boston-based Mass General Brigham will add several new patient programs to Tampa General Hospital, the health systems announced Tuesday.
Among the services coming to Tampa are new cancer treatment that uses the patient’s immune system, a bone marrow transplant initiative, and adding mental health care to the Home Base Florida program for veterans, service personnel and their families.
The hospital systems have been working together for three years to improve innovation, training research, physician recruitment and patient care. For Tampa General, the collaboration has built on ties with academic and research organizations, including the University of South Florida health system.
Together, the not-for-profit hospitals have developed a bone marrow transplant program and cell therapies unit as part of the Tampa General Hospital Cancer Institute. The program, based in a new facility, serves patients with aggressive blood cancers, such as leukemias, lymphomas and myeloma.
Patients also have access to CAR T-cell, a cancer immunotherapy that uses a patient's T cells to fight cancer. After the T-cells are collected, they are reprogrammed in a lab to produce chimeric antigen receptors, which bind to cancer cells and kill them.
One of the first joint programs was the 2021 establishment of Home Base Florida, which aims to heal “the invisible wounds of war through clinical care, wellness, education and research,” the hospitals say.
In Tampa, Home Base serves more than 375 patients at no cost. Adding mental health treatments is expected to increase that number.
Home Base began at Massachusetts General Hospital, one of Mass General Brigham’s academic medical centers, in 2009 as a partnership with the Red Sox Foundation.
In a press release, John Couris, president and CEO of Tampa General, said the latest collaboration formalizes a long-standing relationship with Mass General Brigham.
“For years, our leadership, providers, researchers and teams have worked closely to share knowledge, information, findings and outcomes to elevate the level of care we offer,” Couris said. “As we look ahead, we’re aiming to build a greater presence in the state of Florida, where patients can not only benefit from the exchange of knowledge, but also the best-in-class providers of both networks.”
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