Philanthropist Alice Walton has upped the ante on her efforts to improve healthcare outcomes while reducing costs with an announcement that the Alice L. Walton Foundation and Cleveland Clinic will be partnering with Washington Regional Medical System.
The announcement follows the news last year of a joint initiative through the Foundation and Cleveland Clinic to identify ways to provide access to Cleveland Clinic’s specialty care services in Northwest Arkansas. Cleveland Clinic has been named the number two hospital in the nation overall, and the number one hospital for heart care in U.S. News & World Report’s “2021-22 Best Hospitals” rankings.
WRMS president and CEO Larry Shackleford wrote in a letter to staff that the partnership will permit WRMS to collaborate with the foundation’s Whole Health School of Medicine to become the region’s principal teaching hospital. He elaborated that Washington Regional Medical Center has the objective of becoming the state’s second Level 1 Trauma Center.
Walton stated in a press release that this partnership is all about access, ensuring that residents of NWA and the region have ready access to world-class healthcare services, including specialty care.
“We’re bringing together three organizations with unique strengths—including Washington Regional’s excellence in serving this community, Cleveland Clinic’s innovative care, and my foundation’s focus on enhancing access—to offer a broader scope and scale of services to our region and beyond,” Walton said. “It’s essential that our healthcare system focuses on the whole person—body, mind and spirit—to truly serve the community and improve health and well-being. With this new partnership, we have the opportunity to take a transformative, innovative approach that can improve health outcomes now and chart the course for a healthier future.”
WRMC is a community owned, nonprofit hospital that employs about 3,300, and is the largest provider of primary care services in Eureka Springs. Dr. Dan Bell, co-founder of the ECHO Clinic, said the partnership is “a thoughtful, smart thing to do to bring more specialty care to Northwest Arkansas so people don’t have to travel to other areas.”
“It sounds really exciting to me,” Bell said. “In certain specialties, there are long waits before you can be seen. For example, it takes a long time to get in to be evaluated for neurological conditions such as memory loss. One thing that should be emphasized is this partnership will include mental health. That is very encouraging. One of the weak areas of Northwest Arkansas is psychiatric and mental healthcare.”
Bell said we should all look forward to seeing how the partnership develops and applaud the players. “That is a strong team that you can trust to get something done,” he said.
Dr. John House, who resigned from the Family Medical Clinic recently to pursue other medical interests, said he thinks it’s too early to know how this will affect the Eureka Springs area.
“My guess is that most of the increase in access to care will focus on the Bentonville/Fayetteville/Springdale areas,” House said. “With Cleveland Clinic involved, there may be more specialists available in the metro area. That, in turn, could lead to more specialists coming to the Eureka Springs area, even if just once a month.”
Some Eureka Springs patients, particularly those who don’t have personal transportation or can no longer drive, find it a burden to travel an hour or longer one way to seek specialty care in the metro area.
According to information released Tuesday, the new partnership will:
- Increase access to specialty care services that will make it possible for patients and families to receive innovative care closer to home.
- Expand clinical services to reflect the growth of the Northwest Arkansas region.
- Build a regional health system that focuses on delivering high-quality, whole-person services across the continuum of care.
- Strengthen the transformation to value-based care in the region to ensure high quality, affordable care for the community.
- Develop a partnership with Walton’s Whole Health Institute to establish a regional academic health system in Northwest Arkansas.
- Train the next generation of clinicians, advanced practice providers, nurses, and caregivers in the region.
- Bolster research capabilities of the Washington Regional Medical System.
Walton launched the Whole Health Institute in 2020, and the Whole Health School of Medicine and Health Sciences was formed in 2021. Both organizations, based in Bentonville, have a goal of making whole health accessible and affordable to all.
Larry Shackelford, president and CEO of Washington Regional Medical System, said creation of the regional health system will advance their mission and vision, including expanding clinical, academic, and operational capabilities, and continuing to invest in their facilities.
“Our mission is to improve the health of area residents through compassionate, high-quality care and wellness education, and to act as the central hub for clinical, educational and research activities in Northwest Arkansas,” Shackelford wrote. “This partnership provides the resources to take our healthcare services to the next level to best serve our growing community.”
The Foundation and WRMC said they will now begin to develop operational plans for this new partnership, with an intent to finalize next steps during the remainder of this year.
The initiative focuses on improving specialty care access in areas such cardiac care, digestive health, neurosciences, oncology, orthopedics/spine and behavioral health.