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Tampa General Hospital doesn't pilot tools from tech startups, eschewing the model followed by many peers, CEO John Couris says.

What they're saying: "We don't pilot anything in the health system anymore — we do advanced work, we scale, or we dump it," Couris told Axios on a panel with GE HealthCare U.S. & Canada CEO Catherine Estrampes at the ViVE Healthcare conference in Los Angeles.

Zoom in: Tampa works closely with GE HealthCare (Nasdaq: GEHC) and when the two partnered on GE's Command Center — an operational workflow streamlining tool — they started small, Couris said.

The initial focus was on shortening patients' length of stay, and gradually expanded as the program showed reliable improvement metrics, he added.

"Length of stay in the health system is a very big deal," Couris said. "When you can do it in a way that is sustainable and reproducible and highly reliable ... the partnership with GE has helped us through that."

Inside the room: Couris said the company also tries to be open about projects that aren't working and looks to abandon them quickly.

Sexy tech like smart room technology isn't immune to being on the chopping block if it's failing to drive quality outcomes, he says.

The other side: Venture firm General Catalyst has taken a drastically different approach to GEHC and Tampa General's partnership format, announcing in January that it would instead simply buy the Ohio-based Summa Health hospital system.

Asked why GEHC didn't take that approach, CEO Estrampes said simply, "because that would be competing with Tampa General."

Couris agreed. "I'm not sure it's the best thing," he said of the deal. "They risk competing with the people they may want to sell technology to."

Catch up quick: Tampa General, also a research and academic medical center, has 1,000-plus beds and employs roughly 8,000 people.

GE HealthCare spun out of century-old parent company GE in January, aiming to become a risk-taking entity across imaging, patient care and diagnostics.

The bottom line: "We celebrate, literally celebrate, failure: Fail, fail fast. Get back up, dust yourself off, keep moving forward and don't get stuck," Couris said.

Tampa General Hospital CEO: “We don’t do pilots"

Tampa General doesn't pilot any startup or tech vendor tool says CEO John Couris.

From left: GE Healthcare CEO Catherine Estrampes, Tampa General Hospital CEO John Couris and Axios reporter Erin Brodwin at a ViVE panel.

Screenshot: @HeatherLandi/X https://twitter.com/HeatherLandi/status/1762217232044855624

Health tech deals

Tampa General Hospital doesn&#x27;t pilot tools from tech startups, eschewing the model followed by many peers, CEO John Couris says.What they&#x27;re saying: &quot;We don&#x27;t pilot anything in the health system anymore — we do advanced work, we scale, or we dump it,&quot; Couris told Axios on a panel with GE HealthCare U.S. &amp; Canada CEO Catherine Estrampes at the ViVE Healthcare conference in Los Angeles.

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Tampa General Hospital CEO: “We don’t do pilots"

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