Baxter Regional Medical Center in Mountain Home is partnering with the Highlands Oncology Group of Fayetteville to build this $16 million cancer treatment center.
Baxter Regional Medical Center in Mountain Home wanted to put all its services for cancer patients in one location.
So the 268-bed hospital partnered with the Highlands Oncology Group of Fayetteville to build a $16 million cancer treatment center on the hospital’s campus, said David Fox, Baxter Regional’s chief operating officer. The center will be on Baxter Regional’s campus, across the street from the hospital.
Officials broke ground on the more than 33,000-SF facility on Aug. 28 with a goal to begin seeing patients in October 2022. Baxter and Highlands will own the center, and Highlands will operate it.
The center’s services will include medical and surgical oncology, a chemotherapy infusion center, advanced imaging and diagnostic imaging treatment. It will also have a pharmacy and a research area, Fox said.
Baxter’s center is the latest cancer treatment facility to be announced in Arkansas. In September, Genesis Cancer & Blood Institute of Hot Springs opened a clinic in Russellville, the medical group’s 10th location. The group, formerly known as Genesis Cancer Center, focuses on diagnosing and treating cancer and studying blood and blood disorders. It offers patients on-campus radiology scans, educational services and participation in clinical trials and investigative studies.
And earlier this year, CARTI announced plans to expand its Little Rock campus to include a $25 million, 35,000-SF on-site surgery center. Construction on the project was expected to be completed in the fall of 2022.
CARTI also is building an $18 million, 25,000-SF cancer treatment center in Pine Bluff. It is projected to open early next year.
Convenience for Patients
Baxter Regional’s Fox said that about three years ago it started considering how cancer care was handled at the hospital. There’s been an increase in cancer patients, and Baxter Regional treats thousands of cancer patients from north central Arkansas and southern Missouri.
But the hospital had one location for medical oncology, another for radiation therapy and a third for imaging.
“It was kind of challenging if you’re a cancer patient, navigating the multiple … locations,” Fox said. “We felt like we could do better, and we wanted to make improvements in that.”
Baxter wanted to put all of its cancer services in one spot.
It collaborated with Highlands Oncology Group, which has about two dozen doctors and locations in Fayetteville, Rogers and Springdale.
“Highlands Oncology is very well respected and does a great deal of work in the northwest Arkansas market,” Fox said.
“So we collaborated to develop this cancer treatment center for the betterment of the patients in our particular market.”
The project is designed by Core Architects Inc. of Rogers, and the general contractor is Crossland Construction Co. of Columbus, Kansas.
“We were certainly excited to bring all of the services under one roof with our holistic approach to cancer therapy,” Fox said. “And patients will benefit from being surrounded by their family and their support system, … so they’ll be able to return to a productive life following their cancer care.”
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