Vanderbilt University Medical Center and its affiliates will use an $18.8 million grant from the federal agency that operates the federal Medicare and Medicaid health programs to improve the management of high blood pressure, heart failure and diabetes in 18 counties in Tennessee and Kentucky, according to MyVU.com.

Given by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the three-year grant is one of the largest federal research grants awarded to VUMC investigators.

The Health Care Innovation Award will support the implementation and evaluation of MyHealthTeam (MHT), a model of team-based care that combines collaborative health care teams with health information technology in order to improve control of chronic conditions.

“The receipt of this award brings to fruition years of thoughtful innovation, preparation and successful pilot programs in population-based disease management by our clinicians and biomedical informatics experts,” Dr. Jeff Balser, vice chancellor for health affairs for Vanderbilt University and dean of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, said in the MyVU.com story.

“They have been the architects for this exciting effort that, together with our affiliates, will provide carefully coordinated management for these costly and devastating chronic diseases,” he added.

The project will include Vanderbilt affiliate hospitals Maury Regional Medical Center, NorthCrest Medical Center and Williamson Medical Center, according to Dr. C. Wright Pinson, deputy vice chancellor for health affairs and CEO of the Vanderbilt Health System.