HCA Healthcare and Musicians On Call Announce Collaboration to Expand Live Music Programs in Hospitals Nationwide

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA), one of the nation’s leading healthcare providers, and Musicians On Call (MOC) today announced a new collaboration to bring MOC’s live music programs to more hospitals across the country.

As part of the collaboration, HCA Healthcare is giving $1 million to fund the creation and launch of MOC’s proprietary online platform designed to enhance its program delivery to enable the organization to reach more hospital patients and healthcare workers nationwide. The online platform will help make MOC’s in-person and virtual programs more accessible to hospitals and help enable hospital patients and volunteers to easily connect to MOC’s programs. This initiative aims to transform how the healing power of music is used to improve the patient experience and make live music in a healthcare facility truly “on call.”

“We are excited to be working alongside Musicians On Call to bring their innovative live music programs to our facilities across the country,” said Sam Hazen, chief executive officer of HCA Healthcare. “We pride ourselves on providing our patients and caregivers with a high quality experience inside our hospitals, and our expanded collaboration with Musicians On Call will help us to do that.”

HCA Healthcare and Musicians On Call celebrate the launch with a performance from Charles Esten at TriStar Centennial Medical Center in Nashville. Left to right: MOC Board member Dr. Todd Rubin, MOC President and CEO Pete Griffin, MOC Board member and volunteer Charles Esten, CEO of TriStar Centennial Medical Center Scott Cihak and President of the HCA Healthcare Foundation Joanne Pulles.

“As more healthcare facilities see the profound, positive impact live music has on both patients and staff, the demand for Musicians On Call’s programs has grown at record speed. With this platform, facilities will be able to connect with MOC more efficiently so they can immediately experience the benefits of our programs,” said Pete Griffin, president and chief executive officer of Musicians On Call. “This technology would not be possible without the support of funders like HCA Healthcare, whose belief in our mission is crucial in helping us on our path to the next million served.”

Since 2012, HCA Healthcare and the HCA Healthcare Foundation have given more than $200,000 to support MOC. HCA Healthcare facilities, including TriStar Centennial Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Sarah Cannon Cancer Center, TriStar Centennial Medical Center, Good Samaritan Hospital, Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center and Sunrise Children’s Hospital, have hosted MOC Bedside programs for their patients and staff. Additionally, HCA Healthcare has supported a number of special programs and initiatives including the annual Hope for the Holidays virtual concert experience and MOC’s 20th anniversary celebration. HCA Healthcare has colleagues who sit on MOC’s board of directors and advisory council, and serve as Volunteer Guides and Volunteer Musicians.

Since Musicians On Call began in 1999, more than one million people have experienced the healing power of music in the hospital. During the COVID-19 pandemic, MOC ensured its mission wasn’t interrupted by focusing its resources on expanding the capacity and reach of its virtual program, which has now impacted more than 250,000 people nationwide. With the new platform, the organization will have the ability to reach up to ten times the number of hospitals it currently serves.

As part of a successful HCA Healthcare and Musicians On Call collaboration launch, friend of MOC Charles Esten stopped by patients' rooms for the first live bedside performances in almost three years. Here, caregivers watch from the hallway as Esten brings music bedside.

MOC’s virtual and in-person programming are scheduled to be implemented in 16 HCA Healthcare hospitals across California, Florida, Nevada, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. To kick off the collaboration, patients and hospital staff at TriStar Centennial Medical Center were treated to a special live performance by Charles Esten, star of CMT’s NASHVILLE and Netflix original series Outer Banks, this week. Esten visited patients in their rooms for private performances at the bedside. His visit marked MOC’s 10th event held at TriStar Centennial and the first in-person program since pandemic restrictions were put in place.

For more than 20 years Musicians On Call has used music to promote and complement the healing process through in-person, virtual and digital streaming programs.