A $15 million grant from the Centers from Medicare & Medicaid Services will allow more advance practice nurses to be in skilled nursing facilities in Missouri.

That, in turn, will reduce hospitalizations for nursing home residents, lower healthcare costs and improve care, officials from the University of Missouri Sinclair School of Nursing said on Monday.

Advance practice nurses can intervene and help catch illnesses such as pneumonia early on, Marilyn Rantz, Ph.D., RN, an MU professor of nursing and leader of the project, told the local Columbia Tribune. The funding will allow the school to put advanced practice registered nurses in 16 facilities in the St. Louis area over a four-year period, with the first one starting in about five weeks.

Officials said it was the largest research grant received by the school. To read more about the project, click here.