February 2026 – Burlington, Mass. – Tampa General Hospital (TGH), Florida's leading academic health system and a Magnet®-designated innovator in patient care, has partnered with StaffGarden by Ascend Learning to launch a ground breaking initiative: fully digitizing competency management and succession planning for every member of its workforce, including non-clinical staff. This bold move positions TGH among a select group of health systems nationwide – where only a small fraction achieved 100% digital competency tracking for their entire team.

As John Couris, President and CEO, has shared, "our team members come first. When you invest in them and provide them with the support they need to succeed, they grow, feel fulfilled and empowered, and everyone benefits, including our patients. This initiative is another important tool in helping us ensure that our workforce has the tools to succeed and ensure our continued ability to provide the highest level of quality care."

This initiative provides healthcare leaders with unprecedented visibility into emerging talent and leadership pipelines across the organization, helping to strengthen organizational resilience and support long-term success. Through this strategic partnership, TGH will implement StaffGarden's Competency Management solution across all 150+ locations, impacting more than 15,000 team members. Unlike traditional approaches that focus solely on clinical roles, TGH's adoption extends digital competency tracking to non-clinical team members, providing leaders with a holistic, real-time view of skills, growth, and readiness across the organization.

This comprehensive approach empowers TGH to accelerate onboarding, enhance workforce planning, ensure consistent quality of care, and streamline compliance processes – setting a new benchmark for operational excellence in healthcare.

"At Tampa General Hospital, we believe that investing in our people is the foundation of exceptional care," said Alice Pauquette, VP of Learning & Development at TGH. "By digitizing competency management for every team member, we're creating a transparent, data-driven approach to professional development that empowers our workforce and strengthens leadership pipelines. This initiative ensures that every team member – clinical and non-clinical – has the tools to grow, thrive, and deliver world-class care."

TGH is also investing in StaffGarden's innovative Succession Planning solution, designed to leverage the platform's workforce insights across competencies, ladder activities, staff profiles, and more for identifying and developing future leaders. By capturing a complete picture of each clinical and non-clinical employee's journey – from onboarding to exit – TGH is pioneering the use of technology to inform strategic talent decisions, foster career progression, and build resilient teams at every level. This initiative provides healthcare leaders with unprecedented visibility into emerging talent and leadership pipelines across the organization, helping to strengthen organizational resilience and support long-term success.

TGH's decision to bring these solutions across its entire healthcare system signals the transformative potential of digital workforce intelligence. In an industry where most organizations remain only partially digital, TGH's commitment is a powerful model for the future of healthcare, demonstrating how technology can drive both operational excellence and strategic leadership development.

These investments build on TGH's earlier adoption of StaffGarden's Digital Clinical Ladder and Magnet® reporting solutions, reinforcing its dedication to professional development and clinical excellence. By uniting these programs in a single, integrated platform, TGH is driving efficiency, enhancing workforce engagement and retention, and supporting its mission to deliver world-class care.

Key outcomes expected from the partnership include:

·       Care quality consistency across units and facilities

·       Faster onboarding with increased readiness

·       Increased nurse and ancillary team retention

·       Streamlined Magnet ®program management

·       Reduced staffing shortages

 "At StaffGarden, we believe that using technology to empower healthcare teams with critical staff insights is the key to advancing care quality and nurturing a healthy workforce," said Larissa Africa, VP of Healthcare Workforce Solutions at StaffGarden by Ascend Learning. "We're proud to partner with Tampa General Hospital – a leading academic health system recognized for pioneering cutting-edge research and technology – to deliver a unified platform that raises the bar for competencies and preparedness, fuels professional growth, and empowers leaders to build highly engaged, more future-ready teams. Together, we're optimizing patient outcomes across the entire health system."

TGH selected StaffGarden for their collaborative approach to innovation and ability to deliver tailored solutions. Rather than a one-size-fits-all platform, StaffGarden partnered with TGH to align with its unique processes and co-create tools that address real-world challenges. This includes developing a succession planning solution that brings TGH's vision to life – creating transparency into emerging leaders and strengthening leadership development across the system. Combined with StaffGarden's expertise in healthcare workforce technology and flexible competency management for both clinical and non-clinical roles, this partnership positions TGH to advance clinical excellence and workforce readiness.

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About StaffGarden by Ascend Learning

StaffGarden is a digital clinical ecosystem dedicated to empowering healthcare systems, uplifting clinical professionals, and improving patient care. Its centralized approach to workforce intelligence streamlines tracking, management, and enhancement of clinical excellence at scale, supporting structured professional advancement, competency tracking, peer reviews, and more.

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. 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. 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 five in the state of Florida, in the 2025 Best Employers by State and the 2023 America's Best Employers for Women. For more information, go to www.tgh.org.

About Ascend Learning
Ascend Learning is a leading healthcare and learning technology company. With products that span the learning continuum, Ascend Learning focuses on high-growth careers in a range of industries, with a special focus on healthcare and other licensure-driven occupations. Ascend Learning products, from testing to certification, are used by physicians, emergency medical professionals, nurses, allied health professionals, certified personal trainers, financial advisors, skilled trades professionals and insurance brokers. Learn more at www.ascendlearning.com.

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