Tampa General Hospital and the University of South Florida, both based in Tampa, partnered on one of the first behavioral health teaching hospitals in Florida.
The TGH Behavioral Health Hospital is presently under construction and expected to open in 2025. As one of the first and only freestanding academic medical behavioral health hospitals, it is expected to be about 83,000-square-feet and have 96 inpatient beds, according to a May 13 system news release. It will offer personalized and specialized care for behavioral and mental health conditions and be staffed by physicians with the department of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences at USF Morsani College of Medicine.
The hospital was announced shortly after a new state law that created a behavioral health teaching hospital designation. Tampa General is one of four teaching hospitals expected to open in the state. The other three hospitals to run behavioral health teaching programs are UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville and UF Health Jacksonville, both in partnership with the University of Florida, and Jackson Memorial Hospital in partnership with the University of Miami, The Tampa Bay Times reported.
Under the law, behavioral health teaching hospitals will provide inpatient and outpatient behavioral healthcare, address systemwide behavioral health needs, and provide treatment and care for those who need long-term voluntary or involuntary civil commitment. It will also provide education and training to strengthen the state's behavioral health workforce.