CLEVELAND -- Local hospitals are celebrating after receiving a $64 million dollar grant for medical research. It?s the largest grant ever for northeast Ohio.

The government grant money goes to Case Western Reserve, but all of the hospitals will benefit.

The huge grant will enable Case Western Reserve University?s Medical Schools, MetroHealth Medical Center, the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals to change the way research is done.

The money will ultimately enable researchers to provide new treatments more efficiently and more quickly to patients.

The hospitals will also be able to create new community partnership resources.

The Clinic, Metro and UH cover 90% of the medical care in the seven county area of northeast Ohio.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is funding similar research grants with other academic health centers around the country.

When the program is fully implemented in 2012, the initiative is expected to provide more than $500 million over five years to sixty academic health centers.