Alice Walton says Bentonville healthcare campus to expand Arkansans’ access to specialty care

Listen to an audio version of this story produced by reporter Antoinette Grajeda. Broadcasters: Here is a downloadable version with a host intro script.

A new Bentonville healthcare campus backed by billionaire philanthropist Alice Walton will increase Arkansans’ access to specialty care and a “whole person” approach to medicine, she said at a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday. 

The Alice L. Walton Foundation is partnering with Mercy health system and Cleveland Clinic on the project, which “is focused on expanding access to high-quality, value-based specialty care in the Heartland while improving outcomes and reducing costs,” according to a press release. 

Heartland Forward, a nonprofit based in Bentonville founded by members of the Walton family, defines the Heartland as 20 states in the middle of the country, including Arkansas, Kansas, Minnesota and Ohio.

Located on more than 120 acres along Interstate 49, the campus is the latest venture into the health industry in Arkansas by Walton, daughter of Bentonville-based Walmart founder Sam Walton. The state has long struggled with poor maternal health outcomes and a lack of access to care, especially in rural areas where facilities are closing or cutting back on services. 

Walton supported the development of the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine and Heartland Whole Health Institute, a medical school and nonprofit organization located just over a mile from the new health campus, which she announced Thursday will be called the AWSOM Whole Health Campus. 

Both the medical school and nonprofit organization are located adjacent to the campus of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, which was supported by the Walton family and opened in 2011. 

The groundbreaking ceremony was seven years in the making, Walton said. And while the site is currently just acres of dirt, Walton said she envisions a campus with trails, lakes and trees, and facilities where patients receive care “that treats the whole person, not just a disease or diagnosis.”

The campus will serve as a regional hub that can use technology and innovation to improve lives and address the issue of providing healthcare access to rural communities, she said.

“We have an amazing opportunity together to create a new model of healthcare, to transform the current system and to demonstrate what whole-person health looks like,” Walton said. 

The 709,000-square-foot Center for Advanced Specialty Care, the campus’ first building, is under construction and will focus on cardiac care services in affiliation with Cleveland Clinic when it opens in 2029, according to the release. Initial specialities will include orthopedics, gastroenterology and neurology. 

A 1.1 million-square-foot cancer care center is in development for the campus, which will also include a new hospital containing 250 beds and 40 operating rooms in an additional 1 million square feet. 

Mercy President and CEO Steve Mackin said Thursday the partnership behind the healthcare campus creates a new model of care that would be replicated around the country. Mackin also announced Mercy’s Rogers hospital would pursue a Level II Trauma Center designation and eventually a Level I designation to meet the needs of the region’s growing population. 

“These combined campuses with this kind of partnership and breadth and depth of accessible and affordable services is the future of healthcare and it’s what people are looking for,” he said. “Couple that with a virtual net that we’ll cast across the state to address the needs of rural communities and resolve the issues of healthcare deserts that exist today.”

The Tyson Family Foundation and Tyson Foods, Inc. announced a $50 million pledge Thursday to support the campus’ efforts. 

“This is our community hospital,” said John Tyson, board chairman of Tyson Foods. “We have a great gift from my friend Alice. So we need to step up and come alongside in Jesus’ name, amen.”

Thursday’s groundbreaking follows an announcement of a 30-year, $700 million agreement by the Alice L. Walton Foundation, Mercy and Heartland Whole Health Institute in 2024. 

The agreement included $350 million from Mercy to construct a cardiac care center on its Rogers campus and $350 from the Alice L. Walton Foundation to develop an outpatient center for specialty care in Bentonville, and to attract, train and retain top physicians in the region, according to a 2024 press release. 

Cleveland Clinic was also tapped to provide cardiovascular expertise as part of the deal. The Alice L. Walton Foundation and Cleveland Clinic previously announced an initiative to enhance access to special care services in the region, following a study that showed many patients leave the region for cardiology services and other specialities.