Community partnerships

We strive to actively engage and serve as anchor institutions in our communities through our strategic partnerships and community-based relationships.

We serve a diverse patient population through our 186 hospitals and sites of care across 20 states. To help develop a workforce that reflects the diversity of our patients, we leverage our strategic partnerships with colleges and universities to help create opportunities for future healthcare leaders to learn and serve in their communities.

Left (left to right): HCA Healthcare Information Technology Group’s Paul Currie, vice president and chief technology officer; Gabriel Perez, vice president of software development; and Sheila Gibson, assistant vice president of acquisitions and new constructions; shared their career journeys, advice and career opportunities with 50 Fisk University and Tennessee State University (TSU) students at an HCA Healthcare Scholars 365 Smarter Tech for a Healthier Future program in September 2023.

Our commitment to invest $10 million in partnerships with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) is intended to create opportunities for future healthcare leaders to learn and serve in their communities and will hopefully create a stronger, more inclusive health system and a higher quality of care for our patients. As part of this commitment, in 2023, we announced a gift of $620,000 to the University of California, Riverside (UCR) to support five scholarships for students enrolled in the UCR School of Medicine. This gift is part of our larger commitment to give $10 million over three years to HBCUs and HSIs. Beyond our financial investment, the HCA Healthcare Scholars 365 program provides career planning support, mentorship and internship opportunities for high-achieving undergraduates at HBCUs and HSIs.

Through on-site events, virtual workshops and more, we are impacting approximately 100,000 students with exposure and access to careers in healthcare. In 2023, HCA Healthcare was recognized with an ‘Innovations in Diversity’ award from Profiles in Diversity Journal for our expanded partnerships with HBCUs and HSIs.

2021

  • We pledged to invest $10 million in HBCUs and HSIs over three years to help strengthen the diversity of our talent pipeline while addressing the nursing and clinical staffing shortages. 
  • We announced an agreement between HCA Healthcare and Galen College of Nursing with Fisk University to allow Fisk students to transfer applicable coursework credits to Galen’s BSN program and an investment in Florida A&M University’s (FAMU) School of Allied Health Sciences. 

2022

  • HCA Healthcare gave to several colleges and universities to help fund scholarships, build healthcare programs, and create more opportunities for students. These schools include Tennessee State University (TSU), Fisk University, The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and Florida International University’s (FIU) Nicole Wertheim College of Nursing & Health Sciences (NWCNHS).

2023

  • HCA Healthcare announced that it will gift $620,000 to the University of California, Riverside (UCR) to support five scholarships for students enrolled in the UCR School of Medicine. The service-based scholarships will require recipients to complete qualified service within their community. Through our local facility Riverside Community Hospital, we will also provide job shadowing opportunities, mentors for the university’s Mission Award recipients and seminar and leadership session opportunities.
  • To provide high school students with early access to careers in healthcare and introduce opportunities to unemployed and underemployed jobseekers, the HCA Healthcare Foundation, through the Healthier Tomorrow Fund, contributed more than $400,000 in grants to community colleges, universities and the Urban League of Broward County.
  • Through a three-year, $1.35 million grant and partnership with Educate Texas, the HCA Healthcare Foundation jumpstarted the Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) program. Developed by the Texas Education Agency with technical assistance provided by Educate Texas, P-TECH creates workforce pathways aligned with high-demand fields, including healthcare careers. This program initiates pathways for students to earn both a high school diploma and a no-cost, two-year post-secondary degree or industry-based credentials by the time they graduate high school. To-date, through this grant, over 80 healthcare pathways have been established at P-TECH campuses across Texas, and over 5,000 students have enrolled.

We support mental health and wellness in our local communities through strong partnerships with numerous organizations, including:

Girl Scouts from across the country enjoyed making friendship bracelets at HCA Healthcare’s booth at the PHENOM convention.

The HCA Healthcare Foundation has helped Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) launch a new series of Mental Wellness Patch Programs to address mental wellness among girls in fourth through 12th grade. This is a result of the foundation’s $1.38 million grant to GSUSA, through its Healthier Tomorrow Fund, which was announced in 2022. The GSUSA Mental Wellness Patch Programs, developed in partnership with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and the GSUSA Program Advisory Committee, including HCA Healthcare behavioral health experts, are currently available to all councils nationwide and more than 7,000 have been purchased since the patch program launched in August.

Through our partnership with EVERFI, an international technology company driving social change through education, we continued working with local schools to provide students with education about mental health and wellness. In its third year, EVERFI and HCA Healthcare’s Understanding Mental Wellness online course was able to reach more students than ever. The course has reached more than 199,000 students and approximately 2,700 teachers at more than 1,100 schools across all 15 of HCA Healthcare’s U.S. divisions. HCA Healthcare partnered with EVERFI for three in-person events with local schools in 2023. On Jan. 12, 2023, more than 150 high school students attended EVERFI’s Social Media and Mental Wellness event with Hastings High School in Houston, Texas. On Sept. 29, 2023, more than 100 high school students from West Broward High School in Florida learned about suicide prevention awareness and fostering a supportive environment. Students interacted with each other and seminar leaders in engaging activities and breakout sessions. Emphasizing the importance of mental health education in schools leads to less stigma and improves the overall mental health of students. On Dec. 11, over 40 students from Septima Clark Academy participated in an event at the International African American Museum in Charleston, SC, focused on building resilience while navigating mental health challenges.

HCA Healthcare and the HCA Healthcare Foundation proudly support Musicians On Call (MOC), a program that brings live musical performances to the bedside to increase patients’ mental wellness. Thanks to HCA Healthcare’s ongoing support, in-person, virtual and digital streaming programs have launched in additional facilities nationwide in 2023. MOC has operated in HCA Healthcare facilities for over a decade.

In 2023, the HCA Healthcare Foundation continued its support of Volunteers of America (VOA) Resilience Strength Training (VOA | ReST) 4 First Responders program in targeted areas served by HCA Healthcare, such as HealthONE in Denver, Medical City Healthcare in Dallas-Fort Worth and HCA Florida Healthcare in Miami. Through a two-year $600,000 grant, HCA Healthcare continued to amplify and promote four national webinars led by VOA on mental resiliency for first responders. 

Left to right: Michelle Klinger, Musicians On Call board member and volunteer; Pete Griffin, President and CEO, Musicians On Call; Enid Weisman, Immediate Past Board Chairman, Board of Trustees, HCA Florida Aventura Hospital; Trish Stephans, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Aventura Hospital; David LeMonte, CEO, Aventura Hospital; Jeffrey Scheck, Chairman, Board of Trustees, Aventura Hospital; Carolyn Hunter, Chief Operating Officer, Aventura Hospital; Jesse Gabuat, Chief Nursing Officer, Aventura Hospital; Vianca Larice, Director of Communications and Community Engagement, Aventura Hospital; and Ellice Martinez, Assistant Vice President of Community Engagement, HCA Healthcare’s East Florida Division

Improving health and access to care

The American Heart Association’s Getting to the Heart of Stroke™ initiative, developed in conjunction with HCA Healthcare and the HCA Healthcare Foundation, focuses on preventing, treating and beating stroke by providing nationwide education about stroke risk and equitably empowering communities to improve health outcomes.

Getting to the Heart of Stroke™ 2023 milestones:

  • Established a learning collaborative with the 10 facilities participating in quality improvement.
  • Delivered the first installment of six professional education podcasts and webinar resources for clinical and medical professionals.
  • Launched community health impact initiatives with more than 38 local community partners across 15 HCA Healthcare markets.
  • Implemented over 90 policy systems and environmental changes to help improve health equity.
At the Tampa Bay Heart Walk in 2023, the West Florida Division was the top fundraising healthcare system with 48 teams and 270 participants, raising over $275,000. 
Brianna Porter, RN, Women’s Services, Medical City Plano 

Since 2019, our partnership with March of Dimes has focused on improving maternal mortality and morbidity outcomes through postpartum discharge education and by lowering hospital cesarean rates among low-risk, first-time mothers, headfirst position or NTSV (Nulliparous, Term, Singleton, Vertex) pregnancies.

For over a decade, we have seen a rich history of support from our colleagues who are dedicated to the meaningful mission of this organization. In 2023, six divisions supported March for Babies walks across 10 markets through leadership roles and fundraising, providing over $610,000 to ensure that all moms and babies have a healthy beginning. HCA Healthcare has contributed over $3.9 million to March of Dimes since 2019 through a combination of sponsorships and support, colleague fundraising and matching funds.

More than 212,000 babies are delivered annually across our network of hospitals, and we use data from these births to look for insights that will help improve prenatal, natal and postnatal care.

  • For the fifth year, HCA Healthcare continued to support and proudly partner with the American Red Cross. Through annual contributions to their Annual Disaster Giving Program (ADGP) or Disaster Responder Program, the Red Cross is able to provide a strong infrastructure, trained volunteers, innovative technology and critical resources when responding to disasters.
  • During many disasters, HCA Healthcare works alongside the Red Cross in real-time to coordinate supplies and resources, support shelters and match patients with community shelters when discharged from the hospital.
Economic impact in
our communities
A volunteer from the American Red Cross provided comfort to a member of the community in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in 2022. 

Beyond volunteering, HCA Healthcare colleagues at every level of the organization chose to give their time and talent to nonprofits by serving on the board of directors. HCA Healthcare supports these colleagues through volunteer grants, a quarterly leadership newsletter, the CONNECT Forum professional development series and free access to boardsource.org.