Three Georgia hospitals have launched a regional cooperative aimed at better serving active-duty military personnel.

The Augusta Chronicle reported Monday that the Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center, the Charlie Norwood Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the Carl Vinson Veterans Affairs Medical Center launched a partnership called the Georgia Federal Healthcare Executives Council.

The newspaper reports the facilities were recently awarded a $2.9 million grant from the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to launch an orthopedic and post-surgical care rehabilitation enterprise. The grant is expected to help each facility hire extra personnel.

The agreement calls for patients referred from the Carl Vinson facility in Dublin to have surgery at the Eisenhower center at Fort Gordon and undergo rehabilitation at the Norwood center in Augusta.

Tags: Georgia Federal Healthcare Executives Council, active-duty military personnel, rehabilitation