The University of Nebraska Medical Center has received two grants worth nearly $1.6 million to help improve rural health care.

The Medical Center’s Patricia Leuschen says these grants will allow the Nebraska facility to play a prominent role in promoting rural health care.

One grant worth $993,910 over five years will help pay for two national conferences for physician assistants in 2014 and 2016.

The second grant worth $593,088 will support research examining ways to reduce falls in rural hospitals that serve older adults.