Health officials have awarded about $11 million to Emory University to train health workers to care for patients in medically underserved areas of northern Georgia.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced 26 health-care innovation grants on Tuesday, worth $122 million in all. The Emory award was the second largest.

Emory will use the money to provide six months of advanced training to 40 nurse practitioners and other health professionals, from mostly rural areas. They will then return to their communities to care for patients, helped by a telemedicine system the grant is also financing.

Officials said the project should save money by using non-physicians to treat people in their communities rather than at crowded and far-away hospitals. Emory's partners include three north Georgia hospital organizations.

Tags: grant, Emory University, rural health care, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services