Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital will provide general pediatric surgical services at Tampa General Hospital under an exclusive agreement announced Tuesday by the two hospitals and USF Health.

The agreement calls for All Children’s Specialty Physicians to staff Tampa General with pediatric surgeons, physician assistants, advance practice registered nurses and other clinicians and to appoint a chief of pediatric surgery and a medical director of pediatric trauma. The arrangement already is in effect and applies to general pediatric surgeries on newborns through age 17. In addition, the pediatric general surgeons will work with the TGH team to develop clinical protocols to ensure the highest degree of quality and patient safety related to pediatric general surgery.

“We are honored to serve Tampa Bay area families who have pediatric general surgical needs,” said Thomas Kmetz, president of Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital. “This collaboration with TGH not only expands our specialized services in partnership with a renowned hospital but improves access for children throughout Hillsborough County and beyond to the incredible resources of Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital.”

In addition to the partnership around pediatric general surgery, Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital pediatric general surgeons will open a comprehensive Pediatric General Surgery Clinic on the campus of Tampa General Hospital — inside the USF Health South Tampa Campus — where patients and families can be seen for pre and post-surgical care and other necessary follow-up appointments.

Tampa General Hospital, a 1,006-bed non-profit academic medical center, ranks as the top hospital in the Tampa Bay area in the most recent U.S. News & World Report rankings.

“We are excited to partner with a world-class pediatric care partner like Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital,” said John Couris, Tampa General Hospital’s president and CEO. “By partnering, we are bringing pediatric general surgery experts from Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital together with the TGH Children’s Medical Center team and the pediatric specialists from USF Health and our private practice physicians to create a collaborative environment in which innovative ideas and best practices are shared, our students learn, and our youngest, most vulnerable community members benefit."

Johns Hopkins All Children’s is ranked for 2020-2021 by U.S. News & World Report in eight pediatric specialties, more than any other Florida hospital. The non-profit hospital started in 1926 as community members led by American Legion Post 14 sought to address the polio epidemic. In 2011, it became the first hospital outside the Baltimore/Washington area to join the Johns Hopkins Health System.

General surgeons at Johns Hopkins All Children’s have specialized qualifications and training to treat kids and pediatric conditions. Becoming a pediatric general surgeon requires one of the longest training pathways in the U.S. medical system. After medical school, a pediatric general surgeon has at least seven years of training and must pass certifications in both general surgery and pediatric surgery. While surgeons who perform procedures on adults often focus on a specific organ or region of the body, pediatric general surgeons are trained to operate on children from the neck to the pelvic region.

“When a family hears their child has to have an operation, pediatric general surgeons are not only counted on to provide unique expertise and quality care for little ones, but also to comfort the families who are understandably stressed and worried,” said Paul Danielson, M.D., chair of the Johns Hopkins All Children's Department of Surgery. “The Johns Hopkins All Children’s team has extensive experience in specialized pediatric general surgical and trauma care and expanding our relationship with TGH will bring great benefits to children in need throughout the community.”

The partnership also provides additional learning opportunities for medical students where they will shadow and learn from the pediatric general surgeons from Johns Hopkins All Children’s while consulting with and treating patients at Tampa General Hospital.