Tampa General Hospital President/CEO To Retire

Hytoff became CEO in February 2000 and led a management team that transformed TGH from a financially distressed hospital to a thriving medical center that garnered national recognition for clinical excellence. Between 2000 and 2012, the hospital’s patient volumes doubled, and net revenues more than tripled from $350 million to $1.2 billion this year. Hytoff came to TGH as chief operating officer in May 1997 from University of Louisville (KY) Hospital, where he served as president and CEO for six years. At the time of his arrival, Tampa General was losing millions of dollars a year and making the transition from a public to a private, not-for-profit hospital. That transition became official in October 1997. He instituted a hospital-wide culture change with a focus on customer service, while establishing new relationships with local government officials and the medical staff. He also provided the leadership to help the hospital dig out of its financial quagmire to become a financially healthy institution. The results of those efforts paid dividends as hospital admissions climbed dramatically and led to a period of major expansion of the hospital and its medical services. In 2007, the six-story, 340,000-sq ft Bayshore Pavilion started a phased opening featuring a new emergency and trauma Center, cardiovascular services, a new women’s center, an intensive care unit and digestive diagnostic and treatment center. Last year, the hospital completed the expansion and construction of an 82-bed Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Under Hytoff’s leadership, the hospital started to receive national recognition for its medical programs and quality of its care. The transplant program this year became the fourth busiest center in the country. Since 2005 TGH has been named one of the country’s Top 50 hospitals by U.S. News & World Report. TGH became a designated Magnet hospital in 2005, the highest recognition a hospital can earn for the quality of its nursing care. And since 2007, TGH has been named a Consumer Choice Hospital. The award identifies hospitals that healthcare consumers perceive have the highest quality and image in the region. Hytoff also strengthened the hospitals’ relationship with the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine during his tenure. In addition to increasing funding to the university and expanding the number of residents training at TGH, Hytoff worked with USF to construct on the hospital campus the USF South Tampa Center for Advanced Healthcare, a seven-story, medical office building designed for university faculty, their patients, and students that opened in August 2007. Hytoff’s last major challenge was the conversion to an electronic medical record for the hospital and its off-site clinics at a cost of more than $100 million, a multi-year process that was completed last October. The retiring CEO also managed to corral some individual recognition. This past month he was named to the Becker’s Hospital Review “100 Non-Profit Hospital, Health System CEOs to Know.” The national health industry publication stated the list recognizes CEOs for their “superior clinical, financial, and operational performance.” Hytoff is a 40-year veteran of hospital administration, including 26 years as a CEO. After attaining his MHA from Georgia State, he began his hospital career as the senior vice president of Galesburg Cottage Hospital, a 225-bed acute care community hospital in Galesburg, IL. He served five years as executive director of Humana Hospital in Lexington, KY starting in 1980 before moving to London, England to become executive director and chief executive officer at The Wellington Hospital. He returned to Louisville, KY in 1990 to take charge of the University of Louisville Hospital.