Tampa General announced a deal this week to use Palantir's AI platform to develop its care coordination platform and automate other system workflows.
Tampa General CEO John Couris spoke with Yahoo Finance anchor Josh Lipton at Palantir's (PLTR) AIPCon to explain why AI is important for hospital chains and the healthcare industry.
“This will ensure improved care, clinical outcomes and patient experience. We do that by making doctors more efficient and effective, and by making nurses and allied health professionals more efficient and effective.”
This marks an expansion of Tampa General's existing relationship with Palantir, which began in 2021.
Couris went on to explain how the partnership will work, including how Palantir will provide engineers to work alongside employees at the health system, and how the collaboration between Tampa General and Palantir will fundamentally change the company.
“The work we're doing with Palantir is slowly changing the DNA of the organization in a very thoughtful, practical, impactful way. So, without a doubt, will it change the way we do business? Absolutely. Will it make our health system stronger and more resilient? Without a doubt, how can we not? Because it already is. We're three years into this work today, and our health system is better, stronger, more resilient because of it.”
To learn more about Palantir and AIPCon, check out our full interview with Palantir CEO Alex Karp.
For more expert insights and the latest market trends, click here.
This post was written by Rachel Sherman.
Video Transcript
Tampa General Hospital announced a new $50 million contract with Peer this week to use the company's AI software, and detailed what the deal means not just for Tampa General, but for the entire healthcare industry.
Here we speak exclusively with John Curry.
He is president and CEO of the Florida Health Science Center, which includes Tampa General Hospital.
John.
Thank you for making time to chat.
I'm happy to be with you.
John, I want to dig into this deal in detail, but first, for our viewers who are unfamiliar with the deal, can you explain Tampa Generals from a 30,000 foot perspective about its history, its organization and its place in the community?Tampa Generals was founded in Tampa, Florida, almost 100 years ago.
We are a six-hospital academic research health system affiliated with the University of South Florida F Health Maani College of Medicine in the United States.
Well, we have over 70 residency programs and about 700 residents and fellows.
We conduct thousands of research studies every year.
Well, we are a system that spans the entire state of Florida. So let's take a closer look at this deal.
A small deal for $50 million.
We use Punier AI software.
John, what are you using the AI tools for?
What problem is the technology trying to solve?
So let's start with what's plaguing the industry?
Uh, if you look at the health care industry, we, uh, are struggling across the country with quality.
There are a lot of fantastic health systems out there doing really interesting and important work.
However, as a country and as a people, we are still striving to improve the quality of care, clinical outcomes and safety.
Costs vary between 17 and 21 percent of GDP depending on the year.
So it was very difficult to bring the costs down.
Well, I think for Florida Health Science Center, for Tampa General Hospital and for the nation, AI can, frankly, enable us to improve quality and reduce costs, and through those improvements, pass that value on to the consumers of health care.
And I see AI as a very important tool on that journey.
So what you're proposing is that you're thinking, as we integrate more AI tools, this is where things will get even more exciting.
Ultimately, do you think it will improve patient care and experience?
This will ensure improvements in care, clinical outcomes and patient experience.
It will make doctors more efficient and effective, it will make nurses and allied health professionals more efficient and effective, and it will help administrators in a whole different way when they leave the organization.
And if you want to use these tools, then you can use this software here from Palant.
John, who is using that?
Will it be yours, your existing employees, who will be trained?
Hire new people?
It's a combination.
So it is mainly our existing employees that we train.
Think of the work we're doing with Pal, and AI in general, as a way to enhance the work your employees are already doing and make them more capable.
Will it bring in more people and different kinds of people?
absolutely.
One of the aspects of the relationship here with Palant is forward-positioning engineers within the organization itself.
This means that engineers work side by side.
This means that these penalty engineers will literally be sitting side by side and working shoulder to shoulder with clinicians across our entire healthcare system.
John, does embracing this type of technology change the way you think about running your business in terms of resource allocation, adoption decisions as you implement this technology or as you continue to implement it?
As you know, we've had a very good relationship with Palantir over the last three years.
We are now expanding our relationship with them significantly.
The work we're doing with Palant is about slowly changing the DNA of the organization in a very thoughtful, practical and impactful way.
So, without a doubt, will this change the way we do business?
absolutely.
Surely that will make our health system stronger and more resilient?
Why say that when you already do?
We have been doing this work for three years and it has made our health system better, stronger and more resilient.
So, John, it seems like what you're saying is that AI has traditionally been used in drug development.
So what you're seeing, looking back now, is that you see a broader, more prevalent use case for this technology actually in the healthcare industry?
Ah, that's for sure.
This technology has a broader and more general use case.
I think if this technology is used appropriately and thoughtfully, it will definitely change the way patient care is delivered, how nurses and doctors engage with patients, and how AI works.
And from our perspective, it's about how to improve the lives of caregivers, doctors, nurses and allied health professionals, how to make their jobs easier.
How can we bring joy and happiness back into their work?
How do they, how do we forgive?
How do we build resilience in our workforce?
One way we do this is by putting critical tools in the hands of clinicians so they can do their best work.
Remove the barriers, remove the obstacles, remove the fragmentation.
And that's absolutely true. In my health care system, with the help and support and partnership of PAL and DEER, we were able to make the lives of the people who worked in that system and the people that we cared for much better than they ever could have been.
now.
We still have a long way to go.
This is a lot of work.
So you're trying to change an entire industry, one of the largest industries not just in the country but in the world.
So it will take time.
Does that work?
Absolutely works.
John, we wouldn't have made the deal we just did with Pallant if we weren't seeing real results from that relationship.
I know you're busy today.
Thanks for taking the time to chat.
thank you.
no doubt.
