Hub attraction: Tampa Bay has made strides to become a medical hub with strong research focus, but the region lags behind other similar centers As the population expands, health needs rise, and the Tampa Bay healthcare sector is taking steps to meet this challenge. Institutions like highly-ranked Tampa General Hospital are improving patient care through expansions or by providing more accessible care, often through convenience services. But the system came under severe strain in early 2020 with the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic. The health emergency forced healthcare services to ramp up as the virus tested the sytem’s ability to overcome potential supply shortages and a deluge of patients at emergency rooms. Healthcare and social assistance is the largest employer in the Tampa Bay region, employing 208,800 people, and the third highest-paying job category is health diagnosing and treatment practitioners and other technical occupations at $67,487 in 2018. A new report from TheSeniorList shows that Florida ranks No. 22 in the United States for the most money spent on healthcare annually. Nationwide, Americans spend $3.5 trillion annually on healthcare – around 18 percent of GDP. The population of the Tampa Bay Area is 2.8 million, with the majority (64.9%) identifying as white, 24.19% as black or African American and 4.19% as Asian. Despite growing populations, primary care appointments are 118 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2020 | HEALTHCARE
dropping. According to data, primary care physicians in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater region see 1,376 patients per year on average, a 0.2% drop from the previous year. Dentist visits are also down to 1,735 patients per year, and mental health providers saw a drop to 703 patients per year. Landscape According to US News rankings, Tampa General is the No. 1 hospital in Tampa-St Petersburg, nationally ranked in five specialities. But plenty more institutions made strides in improving their levels of patient care in 2019. BayCare Health System is one of Tampa Bay’s largest employers, with 27,600 local employees. And Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital and Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida recently paired up to extend pediatric care across Florida’s west coast. Hospitals are also moving toward more convenient services. Tampa General recently joined forces with Fast Track Urgent Care, which will allow the hospital to enter Pinellas County with 10 clinic locations for urgent care, which are more cost-friendly and can efficiently treat common injuries and illnesses. Since Tampa Bay is a flourishing medical hub, ( )
