Tampa General Ranks No. 20 on Fast Company’s Eighth Annual List of the Best Workplaces for Innovators

The academic health system is recognized among 100 organizations representing several industry verticals for empowering team members to challenge the status quo and turn ideas into meaningful solutions.

Tampa, FL (Sept. 9, 2026) – Tampa General Hospital (TGH) ranked No. 20 on Fast Company’s eighth annual Best Workplaces for Innovators list, recognizing the academic health system’s commitment to creating a culture where team members at every level are empowered to challenge convention, solve problems and turn ideas into action.

The 2026 Best Workplaces for Innovators list recognizes 100 companies across industries such as entertainment, biotech, consumer packaged goods, marketing, education and healthcare. To be considered, applicants detailed their investment in innovation, internal programs and company culture. Fast Company’s editors evaluated each application and conducted extensive research to develop a score for each company. A distinguished panel of judges then reviewed the top-rated companies to determine the final honorees.

“At Tampa General, we believe that if we want to fundamentally transform healthcare, we have to be willing to challenge the status quo — and that starts by creating a culture where our team members feel empowered to ask questions, think differently and act on their ideas to drive change,” said John Couris, president and CEO of Florida Health Sciences Center | Tampa General. “The people closest to our patients and our operations often see opportunities that others don’t. Our responsibility as leaders is to listen, give them the tools and support to experiment and then move quickly to scale what works. This recognition belongs to our entire team and reflects the culture of curiosity, courage and continuous improvement they bring to Tampa General every day.”

That philosophy is demonstrated through TGH Innovation Week, a systemwide initiative launched in 2024 to accelerate new ideas and turn them into action. More than 5,400 team members and leaders and nearly 350 physicians participated in the 2026 Innovation Week – with an additional 1,066 virtual attendees – which featured workshops, technology demonstrations and a Shark Tank-style Pitch Competition that gives team members across roles and disciplines a platform to present solutions to Tampa General leaders, board members and industry experts.

More than 50 ideas were submitted for this year’s competition. Among them was Fast Track, developed by five infusion nurses who identified a challenge affecting patients receiving short-duration treatments. Patients needing infusions lasting 30 minutes or less competed for the same space and resources as those requiring treatments lasting several hours, contributing to waits of two to four hours for what should have been brief visits.

The nurses proposed a dedicated Fast Track area for short-duration infusions. After months of testing, the model reduced average wait times to approximately 14 minutes while increasing capacity to serve patients. As the winning team, the nurses received a $50,000 commitment from Tampa General to implement their idea. Tampa General also pledged funding to advance each finalist idea presented during the competition.

Tampa General supports ideas like these with an innovation ecosystem designed to move promising solutions from concept to implementation. In 2021, the academic health system launched TGH Ventures, its corporate venture capital arm and dedicated innovation team. Earlier this year, Tampa General expanded the TGH Ventures fund from $10 million to
$25 million, broadening its investment strategy beyond health technology to include medical devices. Its portfolio now includes 14 companies focused on solutions that can streamline access to care, lower costs, optimize care delivery and improve patient, provider and team member experience.

This year, Tampa General further expanded its innovation infrastructure with the opening of a new 32,000-square-foot Innovation Center in Ybor City. The center brings together Tampa General’s innovation team, TGH Ventures, analytics and information technology teams, the Tampa Medical & Research District headquarters and Palantir’s Tampa headquarters, creating a collaborative environment to test, refine and scale new solutions.

“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, executive vice president and chief digital and innovation officer at Tampa General. “We’ve intentionally built an ecosystem that combines the insight of our front-line teams with technology, data, strategic partnerships and investment so we can rapidly test promising ideas, learn from them and scale the solutions that work. When you give talented people the right tools, resources and permission to rethink what’s possible, you can fundamentally change how healthcare is delivered.”

Technology and artificial intelligence are another component of that strategy. Through its partnership with Palantir, Tampa General has deployed AI-enabled predictive analytics that have helped reduce sepsis mortality across the health system by more than half. Agentic AI assistants deployed in Tampa General call centers have also answered more than 2 million calls since September 2025, increasing appointment capacity by 21% and reducing call wait times by 58%.

Underpinning these investments is a workplace culture designed to give team members the psychological safety to question established practices, try new approaches and learn from the results. All Tampa General leaders are trained in the organization’s proprietary AKTiVe leadership model, which emphasizes authenticity, kindness, transparency and vulnerability. Over the last five years, Tampa General has maintained team member engagement scores within the top quartile of all academic health systems nationally, according to Press Ganey.

Tampa General and fellow 2026 Best Workplaces for Innovators honorees will be celebrated at Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators Cocktail Reception on Sept. 16 in New York City as part of the Fast Company Innovation Festival.

Fast Company is a leading media outlet dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies, and thinkers on the future of business. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with fellow business publication Inc.

Tampa General is profiled alongside the full list of 2026 Best Workplaces for Innovators honorees at https://www.fastcompany.com/best-workplaces-for-innovators/list. The Fast Company Best Workplaces for Innovators Issue (Fall 2027) is available online now and will hit newsstands on Sept. 22.