Any Hoosier with Anthem insurance is now covered for care at St. Vincent’s new so-called “neighborhood hospitals”.   As Indiana Public Broadcasting’s Jill Sheridan reports, this comes after the two organizations reached an insurance deal.

The neighborhood hospital or microhospital model offers patients inpatient and emergency care in a smaller, more accessible setting.

St. Vincent has opened four of those new hospitals in the past year but they were not in network for patients with Anthem. St. Vincent Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Richard Fogel says they had to correct this.

“Anthem is the largest commercial insurer in Indiana,” says Fogel. “So they’re obviously someone we care a lot about and we wanted to be able to value to them and their members.”

READ MORE: Microhospitals Scaling Down For Convenience, Efficency

The neighborhood hospitals have served more than 8,000 patients so far. Vogel says that the neighborhood hospitals are beneficial.

“We think there is a big opportunity to improve and change the model of care, we call it reimagining how health care is delivered,” says Vogel.

Two more locations in Brownsburg and Greenwood are scheduled to open in the coming months.