Community Health Network Foundation has been awarded a $1,497,635 federal grant to discover ways to deliver better health care, at lower costs, to diverse populations in Central Indiana while also strengthening Community Health Network’s nursing workforce and improving team-based care.

The grant funding is provided by the Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the primary federal agency for improving access to health care by strengthening the health care workforce, building healthy communities and achieving health equity.

The HRSA grant will fund a three-year innovative project that combines team-based nursing care with evidence-based performance improvement strategies. The grant allows Community to test an interprofessional collaborative care model at Community East Family Medicine Center, a nationally recognized patient-centered medical home, and replicate the model at seven Community hospitals and other sites of care.

According to Cindy Adams, PhD, ANP-BC, RN and Community’s chief nursing officer, the project will allow Community’s nurses to engineer an exceptional patient experience rooted in the highest quality of care and delivered at an optimized price.

“Our promise as Community nurses is to deliver better care and health – at lower costs – to the patients we are honored to treat,” Adams said. “This grant will allow us to do that, and to also strengthen Community’s nursing workforce by providing innovative training to our emerging nurse leaders and our nursing graduates.”

Travis Lozier, Community’s executive director of performance improvement, will partner with Adams to use evidenced-based tools and methodologies to drive ultimate project outcomes.

“Our team is excited to maximize this incredible opportunity to use performance improvement strategies to elevate care and access to the next level,” Lozier said. “We’ll be working with a large team of Community nurses and students, physicians, family medicine residents, pharmacists, social workers and other health care professionals to find better ways to help more people.”

The grant covers 88 percent of the project’s estimated costs, and Community will provide the balance of the funding.