Tampa General Hospital team members manage complex care coordination processes. It was facing a challenge not concerning personnel or process but technology. In fact, it faced a significant challenge with the speed and limitations of its incumbent technology vendor and the vendor's command center software.
THE CHALLENGE
The rapid evolution of healthcare technology was outpacing that vendor's ability to meet the demands of modern care coordination as well as maintain a scalable, up-to-date technical infrastructure. Additionally, the existing system lacked the agility required to extend care coordination beyond the walls of the academic medical center.
"To address these limitations, we turned to the Palantir platform to modernize our approach," said Scott Arnold, executive vice president and chief digital and innovation officer at Tampa General Hospital. "This led to the transformation of our existing 'CareComm' into the 'Care Coordination Center,' or C3. C3 was purpose-built to enable seamless coordination of care not only within our flagship academic medical center, but across the entire health system of seven hospitals and more than 150 care locations, including post-acute care partners.
"C3 empowers our care teams, supports physicians and enhances the overall patient experience," he continued. "While C3 is still in the early stages of deployment, it is already functioning as the operational backbone – or 'operating system' – of our health system."
Tampa General also encountered a specific and complex challenge related to sepsis monitoring. Working closely with its incumbent technology vendor and physician scientists, the health system developed an advanced sepsis monitoring tool to improve patient outcomes and streamline care pathways. The tool proved effective, contributing to many lives saved.
"However, shortly after implementation, the FDA determined the system qualified as a regulated medical device, subjecting it to new compliance requirements," Arnold recalled. "As a result, we were forced to discontinue its use in the commercial product, despite its clinical success, which was a significant setback for our team."
PROPOSAL
The proposal to deploy the Palantir Platform – Foundry and AIP – emerged in response to a clear and urgent need: Accelerating performance at Tampa General Hospital's flagship academic medical center. With increasing demand for services, ensuring optimal patient flow became critical to maintaining high-quality care and meeting patient needs efficiently. The incumbent technology vendor struggled to keep pace with the dynamic nature of Tampa's environment and the forward-thinking vision of the Tampa team.
"Palantir's technology was introduced to modernize our infrastructure with artificial intelligence and advanced analytics – enabling us to enhance patient flow, identify clinical barriers in real time, streamline operations and better coordinate support services," Arnold explained.
"Beyond patient throughput, we are actively planning new features that will expand the platform's capabilities across our entire health system," he continued. "These enhancements will unify care coordination across acute, post-acute, diagnostic and ambulatory services, extending our reach far beyond the walls of the academic medical center."
A key focus has been leveraging the AIP platform. One standout example is a rapid pivot to develop a next-generation sepsis monitoring system. Tampa's internal teams, in collaboration with physician scientists, used AIP to design and deploy software that delivers early insights into potential sepsis cases – helping save lives through timely detection and intervention.
"The result was the creation of a comprehensive Sepsis Hub, encompassing detection, ongoing monitoring and compliance with treatment protocols," he explained. "This tool has garnered strong support from our clinical teams and continues to produce positive outcomes for our patients. Since this is a tool we developed on our own, we were not subject to the commercial product bureaucracy that stymied our early work on detecting and treating sepsis patients, which was once a challenge that we have now overcome.
"Following the success of this application, we have also begun applying this technology to other urgent conditions, including congestive heart failure," he added.
MEETING THE CHALLENGE
Tampa General's analytics team collaborated closely with Palantir's forward-deployed engineers to rewire the health system's existing "CareComm" infrastructure using the Palantir platform (Foundry and AIP), delivering a modernized toolset for care coordination.
"This transformation wasn't just technical – it was collaborative with frontline users," Arnold said. "We engaged frontline clinicians and operational team members in the design process, allowing us to significantly enhance both the tooling and underlying care coordination workflows.
"At the core of the system is the ontology layer, which unifies disparate data into a coherent semantic model," he continued. "This model connects all key roles involved in patient care – care management, nursing, imaging, providers, rapid response teams and more – via the Care Progression Navigator, our anchor application."
This application delivers tailored workflows and role-specific views, enabling care teams to act with greater speed and precision. Machine learning capabilities further enhance this by accelerating accurate patient placement in the complex environment of the academic medical center.
"The C3 platform is now actively used by care navigators, case managers, nurse leaders, imaging specialists, staffing coordinators, administrative leaders and other key stakeholders involved in patient care," he reported. "Each user experience is customized based on role, ensuring the right insights are delivered to the right people at the right time.
"While Palantir serves as the analytics backbone for our health system, the platform is primarily fueled by data from our Epic electronic health record," he continued. "Additional systems such as UKG Dimensions for nurse staffing optimization and QGenda for space and provider scheduling optimization also are integrated. These, along with other datasets housed in Palantir's data lake, continue to support the expansion of care coordination and the development of new subsystems across the enterprise."
RESULTS
The results of Tampa General's software investment have met – and in many cases exceeded – expectations.
"Most notably, our Sepsis Hub has been instrumental in saving 569 lives as of July 2025," Arnold reported. "That number continues to grow daily, and we are deeply grateful to have technology in place that is not only transforming care but also profoundly impacting the lives of patients and their families. The value of those lives saved is, quite simply, immeasurable.
"Additional results include a 30% improvement in MRI imaging turnaround time within the inpatient academic medical center," he continued. "This was achieved through a custom application that leverages EHR data to assess patient readiness for MRI diagnostics and dynamically generate an optimized scheduling sequence. The system feeds into C3 to ensure alignment with overall patient flow operations."
The health system also has seen an 83% reduction in patient placement time using the Care Progression Navigator application, along with a 28% decrease in post-anesthesia care unit holds. These outcomes are driven by machine learning models that anticipate bed capacity and optimize patient placement using real-time data from the electronic health record.
"Finally, the Sepsis Hub has contributed to a 30% reduction in length of stay for sepsis patients, thanks to early detection capabilities and continuous monitoring of treatment protocol adherence," Arnold said. "These gains underscore the power of integrating intelligent software with frontline clinical operations to drive measurable outcomes at scale."
ADVICE FOR OTHERS
When healthcare organizations consider adopting new software to improve operations and outcomes, it's essential to begin by maximizing the value of existing technology assets, Arnold advised. Before committing to new platforms, evaluate whether current systems can be optimized or integrated to meet evolving needs, he added.
"Often, underutilized features or overlooked integrations within existing tools can significantly enhance efficiency and patient care," he noted. "Organizations should also define clear objectives and establish measurable metrics to ensure the software delivers tangible results that align with strategic goals.
"Choosing the right software vendor is just as critical as the technology itself," he continued. "Ensure vendors demonstrate a commitment to modern development practices, interoperability, data security and regular innovation. Vendors should offer scalable, up-to-date systems that can evolve with your organization's needs."
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Email him: bsiwicki@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.
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