The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences is in the running for a $75 million, four-year grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration for a number of projects that aim to boost the health care economy of northwest Arkansas.
That’s the word from Dr. Pearl McElfish, UAMS’ director of community health and research and associate director of outreach and engagement for the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute.
“I think one of the important messages is it’s definitely about providing good health care, but specifically … it is really about how do we advance the economic situation of northwest Arkansas to have a more diverse and resilient health care economy,” she said.
The EDA announced on Monday that UAMS has already cleared one hurdle: It’s one of 60 finalists out of 529 grant applicants for the $1 billion “Build Back Better Regional Challenge” program.
Of these Phase II finalists, representing 45 states and Puerto Rico, 20-30 will receive awards of up to $100 million for three to eight projects.
Each finalist has received $500,000 to prepare their applications for the next and last round of the grant competition.
The deadline to submit the more developed Phase II application is March 15. Awardees will be selected in September, according to the EDA. Its grant program aims to boost economic pandemic recovery and rebuild communities investing in the development and strengthening of regional industry clusters across the country.
If UAMS is ultimately successful, the $75 million would go toward:
- Upskill NWA, a nonprofit launched in July that aims to retrain workers for jobs in high-demand industries, starting with health care. Its goal is to train 1,000 workers over a 10-year period.
- A technology simulation lab project. McElfish explained: “As we’ve gone through COVID-19, the use of telemedicine has accelerated and there’s a real need to train health care providers – current health care providers and future health care providers – so doctors, nurses, physical therapists across the spectrum through simulation and particularly e-health simulation. And so this will fund simulation centers across the region.” The project’s goal is to train 50,000 workers in 10 years.
- An Accelerated Bachelor of Nursing program focused on e-health. Its goal is to produce 500 nurses over the course of 10 years.
- The expansion of graduate medical education in the region that aims to produce 750 doctors in 10 years.
- An e-health technology transfer project called “E-Health BioDesign for Entrepreneurial Excellence.” McElfish said, “As we are developing new technologies around e-health, we’re really looking to support those people doing so, so that they can start the next e-health businesses in northwest Arkansas.” Its goal is to help 600 entrepreneurs over a 10-year period.
“Northwest Arkansas has a significant amount of outmigration in the health care sector and so one of the primary reasons is to reduce that outmigration,” McElfish said. Outmigration refers to when residents of an area seek health care elsewhere. “A second and equally important reason is that we have an amazing quality of life and an amazing economy in northwest Arkansas. We know that our health care sector is not as robust as most places our size and, to have long-term quality of life and long-term economic resiliency … It’s critical to have a more robust and more diverse health care sector in northwest Arkansas.”
She also said the $500,000 the EDA has already awarded will be spent primarily on consultants to help develop detailed plans.
For example, a building to house Upskill NWA has been proposed, so the Phase II application will include architectural renderings, the cost of construction and more.
“And so we will spend the next few months going from this high-level strategic planning that we’ve already done to very detailed planning,” she said. “… I’m quite confident, as I often am, that we will be successful in our full application.”
UAMS is the lead grant applicant and this is part of its long-term commitment to expand and support the region, McElfish said. She also said the Northwest Arkansas Council has “collaborated closely on this opportunity.”
Ryan Cork, executive director of the council’s Health Care Transformation Division, said its role is to help “bring everyone together to really flesh out and understand what this means for the region, their region and the community. And, while it’s northwest Arkansas, I say based or focused, hopefully it will really help to transform the entire state.”
He added that about a half-dozen projects from Arkansas applied but didn’t make it to round two like this one did.
The Northwest Arkansas Council became involved in this effort after commissioning a study by national consulting firm Tripp Umbach of Kansas, Missouri, that offered a “10,000-foot view” of the region’s health care challenges and opportunities.
“Our ultimate goal is to bring world-class health care to northwest Arkansas,” Cork said. “The outline, so we know exactly what that is, and everything else will hopefully just fall into place as we get there. Being awarded Phase I of this grant is obviously huge. … I think it’s absolutely amazing. It speaks to me volumes for the state of Arkansas, for UAMS and for all of those working on this project, and northwest Arkansas. And we’ll come together, as we do collectively as northwest Arkansas, and really submit a competitive Phase II application I believe will be successful.”
“Everybody’s in it and everyone’s equally committed. I think that’s what makes us different and unique in northwest Arkansas.”
Other partners include the Excellerate Foundation, Northwest Technical Institute of Springdale, the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, Washington Regional Medical Center, Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas and Arkansas Children’s.
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