The academic health system curated insights from more than 300 health care leaders to fuel publication of “NEXT Intelligence: A Crowdsourced Framework for Health Care Affordability.”

TAMPA, Fla., March 26, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Tampa General Hospital (TGH) leveraged innovative AI-powered technology to publish NEXT Intelligence: A Crowdsourced Framework for Health Care Affordability, a white paper built entirely from the collective expertise of hundreds of leaders across the health care industry who attended the NEXT Summit 2026, which took place Feb. 11-12 in Tampa, Florida.

The white paper represents the culmination of the Summit’s NEXT Intelligence activation, powered by Vu’s AI crowdsourcing technology, which captured 1,300-plus unique insights from more than 300 leaders spanning 16 states and 10 sub-sectors of the health care industry. The resulting framework offers a dynamic roadmap to address one of health care’s most urgent and enduring challenges: making care more affordable and accessible.

“At Tampa General, we believe that innovation can come from anyone, anywhere, at any time and we were proud to convene hundreds of our industry’s brightest minds who are shaping the future of health care,” said John Couris, president and CEO of Florida Health Sciences Center | Tampa General Hospital. “The NEXT Intelligence white paper takes their visionary perspectives and transforms them into a tangible, actionable framework. Our hope is that leaders will bring these insights back to their respective organizations so we can work together to solve health care’s toughest challenges.”

The breadth of the contributor pool is what makes the framework distinctive. The 2026 NEXT Summit drew health system executives, investors, corporate health care leaders, digital and MedTech innovators, services organizations and nonprofit partners. Their combined input was captured at a dedicated insight booth and during mainstage sessions and a live workshop using Vu’s platform, which combines an AI voice interface and voice-to-text transcription for real-time idea capture, AI-driven clustering and relational mapping to build a live knowledge graph, and automated report generation for shared, actionable insights.

“This is what innovation looks like in practice: not just adopting new technology but using it to catalyze knowledge that leaders representing different parts of the health care ecosystem agree will move the needle,” said Rachel Feinman, senior vice president, Innovation, Ventures and Digital Solutions at Tampa General Hospital. “The NEXT Intelligence framework is a model on which we intend to build, and we believe it represents a genuinely innovative way for health systems to collaborate with stakeholders across the industry and move from conversations to consensus.”

The white paper identified six critical themes and actionable recommendations that emerged from the 2026 NEXT Summit:

• Transparency as a Foundation for Trust: Summit participants consistently identified price transparency for procedures, pharmaceuticals and insurance products as a foundational requirement for meaningful affordability reform.
• Reimagining the Role of Technology: Artificial intelligence, predictive analytics and digital health tools were identified as powerful levers for reducing administrative burden, minimizing unnecessary utilization and proactively identifying high-risk patients before costly interventions become necessary. The group emphasized that technology must be deployed equitably to avoid widening existing disparities.
• Value-Based Care at Scale: Participants called for accelerated movement away from fee-for-service models toward value-based arrangements that reward outcomes rather than volume. This shift must be supported by standardized quality metrics, interoperable data systems and shared financial accountability across the care continuum.
• Social Determinants of Health (SDOH): Health care affordability cannot be solved within the four walls of a hospital. Addressing housing instability, food insecurity, transportation barriers and mental health access is essential to reducing downstream costs and improving population health outcomes.
• Workforce Sustainability: A healthy, engaged workforce is essential to drive a high-performing, affordable health care system. Participants highlighted the link between clinician burnout, staff turnover and rising care costs, urging investment in workforce well-being, team-based care models and streamlined administrative processes.
• Policy and Payment Reform: The white paper calls on policymakers and payers to work in collaboratively with health systems to modernize reimbursement structures, reduce regulatory complexity and provide incentives that support innovation and long-term affordability.

The full white paper, including complete findings, is available for viewing and download here.

About the NEXT Summit

Hosted during Tampa General’s annual Innovation Week, the 2026 NEXT Summit brought together leaders across the health care industry for two days of candid, solutions-oriented dialogue on innovation in the business of health care. The program included keynote addresses, mainstage panel discussions, interactive workshops and experiential activations – all anchored by the summit’s defining question: what comes next for the business of health care?

Programming explored interconnected themes including health care affordability and access, artificial intelligence and digital innovation, workforce transformation and value-based care, with sessions designed to move beyond surface-level conversation toward concrete strategies that health systems, payers, innovators and policymakers can act on together.

Building on the success of this year’s event, Tampa General Hospital’s NEXT Summit 2027 will return on Feb. 24–25, 2027. Full agenda details, registration information and sponsorship opportunities for NEXT Summit 2027 will be announced in the coming months. Organizations and individuals interested in attending, speaking or partnering are encouraged to visit tghnext.com or contact the TGH Innovation team at innovation@tgh.org.

ABOUT TAMPA GENERAL HOSPITAL
Tampa General Hospital, the Tampa Bay region’s only academic health system, is a 1,530-bed not-for-profit network of hospital and outpatient services spanning across Florida. As the only center for Level l trauma and comprehensive burn care center serving 23 counties, Tampa General delivers world-class care. The system’s hospitals include Tampa General Hospital, Tampa General Rehabilitation Hospital, Tampa General Behavioral Health Hospital, all in Tampa; Tampa General Brooksville, Tampa General Spring Hill and Tampa General Crystal River. Tampa General is the highest-ranked hospital in Tampa Bay in U.S. News & World Report’s 2025-2026 Best Hospitals, with six medical specialties ranking among the top 50 in the nation and five additional medical specialties ranked among the top 10% best hospital programs in the United States. As the first hospital in Florida to open a clinical command center for real-time situational awareness, the academic health system has elevated its digital care coordination center to the next level by leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and its analytics platform across inpatient and outpatient care to ensure patients receive leading-edge care as quickly and safely as possible. Tampa General’s commitment to growing and developing its team members is recognized by three prestigious Forbes magazine rankings — in the 2026 America’s Best Large Employers, ranked as the Tampa Bay region’s #1 employer in the health care category for the sixth year in a row, and among the top three in the state of Florida, in the 2025 Best Employers by State and the 2023 America’s Best Employers for Women.

Tampa General is the area’s safety-net hospital, caring for anyone regardless of ability to pay; in fiscal year 2024, Tampa General provided a net community benefit of approximately $289.1 million in the form of health care for underinsured patients, community education and financial support to community health organizations in Tampa Bay. It is recognized as one of the adult solid organ transplant centers in the nation and is the primary teaching hospital for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. With five medical helicopters, Tampa General transports critically injured or ill patients from surrounding counties to receive the advanced care their conditions require. Tampa General has a nationally accredited comprehensive stroke center and its 32-bed Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit is the largest on the West Coast of Florida. It is home to the Muma Children’s Hospital at TGH, the Jennifer Leigh Muma 82-bed neonatal intensive care unit and a nationally accredited rehabilitation center. Tampa General’s footprint includes TGH North, which consists of three hospitals and several outpatient locations in Citrus and Hernando counties; 17 Tampa General Medical Group Primary Care offices; TGH Family Care Center Kennedy; two TGH outpatient centers; TGH Virtual Health; and 20 TGH Imaging outpatient radiology centers throughout Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas and Palm Beach counties. Tampa Bay area residents receive world-class care from the TGH Urgent Care, powered by the Fast Track network of clinics. To see a medical care professional live anytime, anywhere on a smartphone, tablet or computer, visit Virtual Health | Tampa General Hospital (tgh.org). For more information, go to www.tgh.org.

Media Contact: Beth Hardy, APR
Assistant Manager
Publications & Physician Communications
(727) 510-6363 (cell)
ehardy@tgh.org

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tampa-general-hospital-taps-ai-crowdsourcing-to-turn-300-health-care-leaders-insights-into-actionable-affordability-framework-at-next-summit-302726337.html

SOURCE Tampa General Hospital