Alice Walton, Mercy and Heartland Whole Health Announce $700M Alliance in Northwest Arkansas

Alice Walton at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville (Stephen Ironside)

The Alice L. Walton Foundation, Mercy and the Heartland Whole Health Institute on Tuesday announced a 30-year, $700 million affiliation agreement that includes the construction of a cardiac care center on Mercy’s campus in Rogers and a new outpatient center in Bentonville.

The partnership aims to expand access to health care, lower costs and improve health outcomes in a 20-state area that includes northwest Arkansas. It will also provide resources to recruit, train and retain physicians.

Mercy and Cleveland Clinic will co-brand cardiovascular center. Cleveland Clinic, a national leader in cardiology and heart and vascular surgery, will provide on-site expertise to establish processes, best practices and foster innovation.

Following the initial investments, the organizations will explore additional opportunities to expand care in the region, the organizations said in a news release.

“We believe that everyone deserves quality whole health care closer to home,” Alice Walton, founder of Heartland Whole Health Institute and the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine, said in the release. “This powerful collaboration with Mercy and Cleveland Clinic will change the health care landscape in the Heartland, bringing together organizations that are dedicated to increasing quality, reducing costs, and making accessible, value-based care a reality.”

The Alice L. Walton Foundation and Cleveland Clinic previously announced an initiative to enhance access to specialty care services in northwest Arkansas. The effort launched after a study that revealed many patients leave the region for cardiology services, among other specialties.

“We are at the beginning of a decades-long relationship to transform health care,” Steve Mackin, Mercy’s president and CEO, said in the release. “Health care has become increasingly complex, but we are committed to working closely with Alice and her teams to innovate a new model of care − one that reduces the total cost of health care while increasing the quality of care and providing access for all.”

The 30-year agreement will include significant investments that make northwest Arkansas a “destination for care and a national example of how to provide health care in new and innovative ways,” the release said.

The organizations said the new care centers in northwest Arkansas will form the foundation of a health hub that will:

• Provide residents in the 20-state Heartland region access to a comprehensive spectrum of cardiac services
• Reduce total cost of care while increasing quality through value-based payment initiatives and delivery services
• Deploy a model of preventative, whole health care that leverages technology and telehealth to improve health outcomes and reduce health care costs for the region
• Attract a large group of new physicians, with plans for Mercy to bring hundreds to the region in the coming years
• Position northwest Arkansas as the premier health care destination and encourage new patients from the middle of the country to seek care in the region
• Contribute to the Heartland’s economic strength, treat patients closer to home, and significantly reduce the $950 million currently lost annually due to patients seeking specialty care outside of Northwest Arkansas

Mercy, which is already investing $500 million in the latest phase of its northwest Arkansas expansion, will serve as the primary educational partner for the forthcoming Alice L. Walton School of Medicine under the affiliation.

“We believe that transparent, wellness-oriented care is nonnegotiable,” said Walter Harris, president and CEO of the Heartland Whole Health Institute. “Providers and patients alike benefit when the traditional approach to care and physician reimbursement is abandoned for a model that prioritizes keeping patients healthy and costs down. This is just the beginning of what we will accomplish together.”