Agentic AI assistants in Tampa General Hospital’s call centers have answered more than 2 million calls since September 2025, cutting wait times by 58% while increasing appointment capacity by 21%, according to figures the health system released this month. Tampa General is making that push on several fronts at once, with a corporate venture fund that grew from $10 million to $25 million this year and a new 32,000-square-foot Innovation Center in Ybor City.
The hospital widened TGH Ventures’ investment mandate beyond health technology to include medical devices, bringing its portfolio to 14 companies focused on access, costs and care delivery. Its new Ybor center puts TGH Ventures in the same building as Tampa General’s innovation, analytics and information technology teams, the Tampa Medical & Research District headquarters and Palantir’s Tampa headquarters.
Tampa General’s work with Palantir extends into clinical care, where the hospital says AI-enabled predictive analytics have helped cut sepsis mortality across the health system by more than half. Five infusion nurses found a different kind of bottleneck: patients coming in for treatments lasting 30 minutes or less were waiting two to four hours because they shared space and staff with patients receiving infusions that took several hours.
The nurses carved out a separate Fast Track for those shorter treatments and tested the model for months, eventually bringing the average wait down to about 14 minutes while increasing patient capacity, according to Tampa General. Their project won the hospital’s 2026 Innovation Week pitch competition and a $50,000 commitment to put the idea into practice, while Tampa General also pledged funding for the other finalist projects.
More than 50 ideas went into this year’s competition, which grew out of the systemwide Innovation Week program Tampa General launched in 2024. The hospital said more than 5,400 team members and leaders and nearly 350 physicians participated this year, with another 1,066 people joining virtually for workshops, technology demonstrations and other events.
“Innovation has to go beyond a great idea to solve a real problem and create meaningful value for our patients, providers and team members,” said Scott Arnold, Tampa General’s executive vice president and chief digital and innovation officer. Arnold said the hospital has paired ideas from front-line employees with technology, data, outside partnerships and investment, then used that structure to test projects and scale the ones that work.
Fast Company ranked Tampa General No. 20 on its 2026 Best Workplaces for Innovators list, released Sept. 9 and covering 100 organizations across health care, biotech, education, entertainment, marketing and other industries. Applicants supplied information on their innovation spending, internal programs and workplace culture, which Fast Company editors researched and scored before a panel of judges reviewed the highest-rated organizations.
“The people closest to our patients and our operations often see opportunities that others don’t,” Tampa General President and CEO John Couris said in announcing the ranking. “Our responsibility as leaders is to listen, give them the tools and support to experiment and then move quickly to scale what works.”
Tampa General also said its employee engagement scores have remained in the top quartile of academic health systems nationally for the past five years, citing Press Ganey. Fast Company is scheduled to recognize Tampa General and the other honorees Sept. 16 in New York City during its Best Workplaces for Innovators reception.