Melissa Golombek, EVP and Chief Operating Officer at Tampa General Hospital

Summary

Podcast Summary: Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

Guest: Melissa Golombek, EVP and Chief Operating Officer, Tampa General Hospital
Host: Scott King (Becker’s Healthcare)
Date: September 15, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode features an insightful conversation between Scott King and Melissa Golombek, EVP and COO at Tampa General Hospital. The discussion explores the evolving role of a COO in healthcare, the unique challenges and strategic directions at Tampa General, notable accomplishments in the past year, proactive operational planning, team engagement, and emergency preparedness specific to Florida’s hurricane season. Melissa brings a transparent, servant-leader perspective to healthcare operations, emphasizing forward-thinking, teamwork, and patient-centered care.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Melissa’s Background and Role at Tampa General

• Melissa has been with Tampa General for six years and assumed the COO role seven months ago (00:43).
• Nurse by training; holds two master's degrees and a doctorate, with 15+ years' executive experience (00:46).
• Tampa General is the only academic health system in its region and is affiliated with the University of South Florida (01:12).
• Her officer role focuses on strategic operational growth, ensuring seamless patient care while managing complex behind-the-scenes operations.
  • Quote: “How we’re keeping the train on the track and making sure that... our patients feel as though it’s seamless and don’t know all of the maneuvering areas in the background that really lead to their world class care.” (01:35)

2. The Strategic Focus of the Modern COO

• Previously, COOs were “firefighters,” reacting to daily challenges (03:37).
• Melissa positions her role as more proactive and strategic, with the goal of smoothing operational challenges before they become crises:
  • “For me, it’s really about building within my team, being very forward focused... so that we can minimize or avoid some of those fires that come up through the day.” (03:49)
• Focus on long-term planning (3-5 years) to manage headwinds like capacity, space, throughput, and care protocols.

3. Vital Accomplishments at Tampa General

• Team Member First Culture: Tampa General prioritizes staff wellbeing, which translates into high-quality patient care (05:15).
  • Turnover rates are well below national academic health system benchmarks.
  • Team member engagement is in the 92nd percentile—“unheard of” at their size (05:45).
• Strategic Partnerships & Care Coordination:
  • Partnership with Palantir to develop software and systems enhancing care coordination across patient’s entire healthcare journey (06:34).
  • Such partnerships “have been really a game changer... and it has changed how we make decisions from the operational lens.” (07:09)

4. Operational Goals for 2025 and Progress

• Key operational pillars: quality, finance, strategy, capacity.
• Emphasis on being proactive in serving patients at scale, ensuring right care at the right location, and integrating all levels of staff into goal execution (07:33).
  • “We have high volumes of patients…we have the masses of growth and how do we do the right care, the right location…” (08:02)
• Melissa is impressed and proud of the team’s execution, especially amid broader industry challenges (08:41).

5. Anticipating and Managing Operational Headwinds

• In Florida, hurricane season is always a prime concern (09:23).
  • “Once you get right to where you’re supposed to be, you’re preparing for the next. And so that right now is of course top of mind for us.” (09:45)
• The hospital employs a dedicated emergency response team and “aquafence” system to protect facilities.
  • “Our emergency response team is a well oiled machine... making sure that we have the right resources, the right food, the right protection for our team members when we're in here for storms.” (10:36)

6. Evolution of the COO Role in Healthcare

• The COO role has shifted from a broad, catch-all focus to a targeted, strategic partnership function (11:42).
  • Five years ago, COOs had an “undefined scope.” Now, they have clear stakeholder alignment and are core to strategy and growth (11:47).
  • “Operations being at the table from a strategy build... How is this going to impact operations so we don’t bottleneck?” (12:19)

7. Melissa’s Leadership Evolution

• Melissa describes her style as “servant to my team.”
  • “How I’ve evolved is really based on the people that I have led and what their talents are... being able to mentor the team to think differently.” (13:10)
  • COO roles allow broad influence across teams and situations, a responsibility she views as an honor (14:20).

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Strategic Operations
  • “My job is to make that easy for them, it is to remove barriers so that the operators can do the work that they need to do.” (02:49, Melissa Golombek)
• On Team Member Engagement
  • “We put our team members first. We care for our team members to the highest level and that leads to our team members caring for our patients at the highest level with the highest quality.” (05:20, Melissa Golombek)
• On Partnerships and Technology
  • “We really have partnered with Palantir... developing softwares and systems that allow us to really enhance the care coordination across the continuum.” (06:37, Melissa Golombek)
• On Proactive Planning
  • “We can be proactive in our thinking from an operations standpoint so that we can minimize or avoid some of those fires that come up through the day.” (03:51, Melissa Golombek)
• On Evolution of COO Role
  • “The role now is a more strategic approach. It is: this is what I’m focused on. These are my key stakeholders who partner with me to get our collective outcome or goal.” (11:53, Melissa Golombek)
• On Leadership Growth
  • “You have such a wonderful opportunity to be able to serve and help people think through or get to their outcome. And that is a luxury that not a lot of leadership positions get.” (14:06, Melissa Golombek)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:43 – Melissa’s background and intro to COO role
• 02:17 – Core responsibilities of the COO
• 03:37 – Evolving from reactive “firefighting” to proactive strategy
• 05:06 – Biggest accomplishments of the past year (staff focus, engagement, partnerships)
• 07:33 – 2025 goals and team integration into operational strategy
• 09:23 – Preparing for natural disasters (hurricane season in Florida)
• 11:42 – How the COO role is changing in healthcare
• 13:02 – Melissa’s development as a leader

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This insightful episode provides a window into the challenges and future-focused strategies shaping academic health system operations today, as told by one of the sector’s servant leaders.

Transcript

[A]

Hello everyone. This is Scott King with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by Melissa Gallimbeck, Executive Vice president, Chief Operating Officer at Tampa General Hospital. Melissa, how are you doing today? Thanks so much for joining us.

[B]

I'm good. How are you doing?

[A]

Doing very well. It's a little, little gloomy in Chicago today, but I think we'll get by it. Maybe we need the rain.

[B]

Yeah, we don't have any gloom here in Florida. We get a little hot. It's a little hot in August, but it's all sunny, sunny skies. So maybe you need to come on over.

[A]

Hot is better than gloom. So I might have to take you up on that. Thrilled to be talking with you. I first would love to get some of your background about your role in your system before we jump into questions.

[B]

Yeah, of course. So let me tell you a little bit about myself. So I've been here at Tampa General for just about six years. Stepped into the executive vice president, chief operating officer role about seven months ago. So really exciting story about internal growth and promotion there and maybe this one or next one we can get into that. But really I am a nurse by background. I am a double master's doctorate prepared, been in executive leadership for over 15 years. So I'm all in healthcare, really love, very much focused on this area. My academic health system is a multi hospital system, multi entity system. We are the only academic health system in our region. Our partners are University of South Florida. So we're really proud of that, really excited about that. That has been a transition for us over the past couple years and really just exploded there. My role at the academic medical center is really around strategic operational growth and to put it in the simplest terms, how we're keeping the train on the track and making sure that we're doing that in a way our patients feel as though it's seamless and don't know all of the maneuvering areas in the background that really lead to their world class care.

[A]

So I know COOs of healthcare systems wear a lot of different hats, do a lot of different things, but what do you see as kind of the biggest responsibility for your role?

[B]

Yeah, so really my role is to think differently of how we operationalize our health system system. So strategically, how do we do things in a way where patients can feel as though they are reaching the best experts, getting the highest level of care and they don't know anything but walking in the door and really, you know, getting, getting that care? So really I would say my job is to make that easy for them, it is to remove barriers so that the operators can do the work that they need to do. It is also about strategic alignments with our stakeholders, strategic partnerships. And I know I'm using the word strategy a lot when we're talking about operations, but that's really the focus and I would say the difference and the new highlight of the chief operating officer role at Tampa General.

[A]

It's interesting you mentioned kind of strategy, and I've been talking with a lot of COOs, and when they talk about strategy and the work that goes into, I think people kind of just picture a COO like, you know, cranking the numbers and just with a pen and paper. But there's ways to get your team involved and to delegate different tasks. Can you kind of talk about that and kind of the balance sheet stuck with that?

[B]

Yeah, of course. So, you know, it's funny because you say that about chief operating officer roles, and that's primarily, you know, when you look at it in the past, I call it like a firefighting role. Right. You're getting patients in, you're doing what you need to do. There's an emergency that comes up and you tackle that and you go on and you're operating the day and you just go and you firefight. So for me, it's really about building within my team being very forward focused, understanding that although we will have fires that are coming up during the day, we can be proactive in our thinking from an operations standpoint so that we can minimize or avoid some of those fires that come up through the day. So one thing right now that we're working on that I'm really, really proud of is a very strategic operational plan related to some of the headwinds coming at us as being the only regional academic medical center. Right. So capacity and space flow, throughput transfers in. Right. Protocols. And so all of those are parts of operator, but we really kind of take it day to day and move through it. And so how do we write it for the next three to five years to anticipate so that our operations on a daily basis feel a little bit less overwhelming and stressed in the moment?

[A]

So we've heard a little bit about some vital things you're working on now, but if you look back at the past year so far, what do you think the biggest accomplishment is with Tampa General?

[B]

Oh, I mean, the biggest accomplishment really is. And I'm going to. I'm going to go a little bit sideways on this one. So we. And I'm going to probably Answer it in a couple of different ways. So there's many, many accomplishments that we can highlight. At Tampa General, we are a little bit different than other systems in that we are very vocal that we put our team members first. Right? We put our team members first. We care for our team members to the highest level and that leads to our team members caring for our patients at the highest level with the highest quality. And so we are very, very thoughtful about that. So in the past year, we have continue to keep our turnover rates at an academic medical system, right. That has over 15,000 team members and physicians. Our turnover rates are well below average in national benchmarks. In addition to that, when you look at team member engagement, we are in this 92nd percentile for engagement, and that is unheard of. Right. And so that is something that is really focused, really strategic and really, really proud of, I would say. The other thing is that is different and I'm really proud of in the past year is our hyper focus on strategic partnership and care coordination. So, you know, I think the industry talks a lot about care coordination and we haven't quite nailed it down. And so we really have partnered with Palantir and part of our strategic partnerships are partnering beyond, you know, the healthcare arena, which, which makes us a differentiator. And so we've really partnered with Palantir to look at developing softwares and systems that allow us to really enhance the care coordination across the continuum, right from that doctor's appointment to coming into our hospital, navigating the right acuity to the right bed, to the right provider, to the right location, moving that care, then to the post care arena if needed, and how we navigate them for that circle of their healthcare, you know, and so those strategic partnerships have been really a game changer and something that we're really, really proud of. And it has changed how we make decisions from the operational lens.

[A]

That's really interesting. And I want to ask, what goals did you set kind of early on in 2025 to accomplish and how are you tracking with those goals now?

[B]

Yeah, so really goals have been how are we going to stay ahead of kind of external forces in healthcare? Right. Some of these things that we know are going to be headwinds that we can't really change. How are we going to stay ahead of those? So whether it's quality, finance, strategy, capacity. So goals are in each of those pillars, but specifically related to the chief operating officer, our goals have been, I spoke about it before, really about being proactive, really looking at unique ways to serve all of Our patients from a capacity standpoint, we are very, very fortunate to have patients who come to Tampa General to receive the highest level of care. So we are, we have high volumes of patients seeking our services. And so, you know, we aren't one of those facilities that you're going to hear about at 50 to 60% capacity. And how do we get growth? And it's more of we have the masses of growth and how do we do the right care, the right location and those directions. So those have been really the focused goals in this year and pulling in the team members at every level of leadership and then down to level of point of care and getting them all cascaded into how they impact those goals. I would say we're in what just. And I'm pretty impressed with how the team has executed on these goals. You know, you're hearing a lot in the external arena of troubles and struggles within the healthcare footprint. And this team has been steadfast and focused on staying ahead of those and we're doing and looking pretty good.

[A]

So you talked about some headwinds the team is kind of preparing for and ready to deal with. Do you see other ones on the horizon that you also have to prepare for?

[B]

Well, you know, we're in Florida here, so we're. Hurricane season's always on the horizon and for Florida health system that's a big hit. And so I'm gonna leave it with probably the hurricane is. The hurricane season is most top of mind, you know, in Florida because of the damage. Once you get right to where you're supposed to be, you're preparing for the next. And so that right now is of course top of mind for us.

[A]

So being in another part of the country, like I can't, you know, we obviously over here in the Chicago area don't hear about health systems dealing with a natural disaster like that. What are, what are some of the things that have to kind of go into place and you have to do to prepare for all that?

[B]

Yeah, so we, I mean we have an entire team that is focused on preparing for that. I'm sure you've seen us in the, in the news for the aquafense. And so we definitely have an entire aquafence set up on the perimeter that work starts in August, starts going up and starts really kind of creating. We have multiple, multiple, multiple days, hours, weeks of planning and an entire team. But I'll tell you, our emergency response team is a well oiled machine. And so they come in, they start us out, we know every point of what our Role is, and it's a typical command center, so, you know, making sure that we have the right resources, the right food, the right, you know, protection for our team members when we're in here for storms. And so lots and lots of different preparation. I would say the difference here is we know that the storm is coming, and so we start that prep and we start, you know, there's a very dedicated time for that, which is a little bit different in other places where, you know, you all have earthquakes or tornadoes. A little bit different from a hurricane standpoint.

[A]

Well, I think it's great that you have the communities back in that regard, you know, something that a lot of people don't have to deal with. So that's great to hear. And, you know, just. I know you said you're still, still a fairly new COO with the system. Seven months, I believe. So I'm just curious, though, overall, in all your experience, you know, kind of top to bottom that you've had in healthcare, how have you seen the role of a COO change kind of over time?

[B]

Yeah, so I've seen the role of the COO change over time and be a little bit more focused and redefined. So historically, five, as recent, I would say as five years ago, the COO had a very large, undefined scope and it was kind of like throw everything on into hospital operations. The role now is, as I said in a couple times in our previous questions, is the role now is a more strategic approach. It is. This is what I'm focused on. These are my key stakeholders who partner with me to get our collective outcome or goal. And so that is what I would say, number one, and then the second, and again I've said it. But really, operations being at the table from a strategy build. Right. So we are going to grow this or we're going to build this. How is this going to impact operations so we don't bottleneck? And so really being more thoughtful and focused with the team, other than just kind of like, let's go, let's get it done.

[A]

The last question I have for you, it's more in line with your role. How do you see yourself evolving as a leader? How have you evolved as a leader?

[B]

So that is probably maybe the toughest question so far, which is wonderful. So, you know, myself as a leader, I am very much servant to my team. And so how I've evolved is really based on the people that I have led and what their talents are and what they bring to the table and how I can really grow to be the best leader for them. And. And so really learning different ways of thinking, learning different ways of doing things, but also then being able to mentor the team to think differently. So I have very much evolved in that way, is opening my skillset through learning different styles and different people and then recognizing, I would say, you know, one of the best things about being a chief operating officer is people come to you. They come to you for everything. They come to you for little things, big things, massive things. And you have such a wonderful opportunity to be able to serve and help people think through or get to their outcome. And that is a luxury that not a lot of leadership positions get right. There's a small few as you get into these chief roles where you are the person people go to. So that has really helped me evolve. And it is such an honor specifically to be the Chief operating officer at Tampa General. Beyond an honor.

[A]

Well, Melissa, thank you so much for a great conversation and look forward to working with you again soon.

[B]

Yes. Thank you so much. You enjoy your gloom weather?

[A]

We'll try. Sometimes it's needed.

[B]

Yeah. Thank you.

[A]

Thank you.