Music, Medicine, and Miracles: How to Provide Medical Music Therapy for Pediatric Patients and Get Paid for It

In the last ten years, research has shown that premature infants are able to leave the hospital significantly sooner with music therapy. In some cases, children undergoing procedures like echocardiograms and CT scans are using music therapy instead of sedation. But despite these desirable applications and outcomes music therapy is not as widely accepted and used as it could be.

In a world where healthcare costs continue rising and budgets continue falling, it is becoming harder to implement programs that focus on holistic approaches to healing such as medical music therapy. Ms. Robertson has taken her experience of starting a music therapy program from scratch at the largest admitting hospital in America and provided step-by-step instructions on how others can do the same. Her insights on implementing a cost-effective music therapy program at AdventHealth for Children will prove invaluable to music therapists, hospital administrators, physician leaders and clinical staff at any healthcare facility. She demonstrates that in addition to the health and healing benefits music therapy provides it can also bring cost-savings and reimbursement to hospitals.

Ms. Robertson became the first in the country to successfully receive reimbursement for inpatient services in the NICU. In this monograph, she not only explains how she accomplished this, but how others can as well. Her contributions have broken some boundaries for music therapy and created new opportunities for therapists to continue healing the mind, body, and spirit with music.

The AdventHealth Healthcare and Leadership Monograph Series are rooted in the intellectual capital of employees at AdventHealth - the largest admitting hospital in America. Monographs in this series provide focused, expert, relevant, and affordable training to interested individuals and organizations on a specific topic. Because of AdventHealth's history, as well as a vast array of business and medical innovations, the monograph series covers topics with a unique whole person health undertone.