Alice L. Walton Foundation Announces Future Location for Bentonville Health Care Campus

BENTONVILLE, ARKANSAS (February 18, 2025) – Today, Alice L. Walton Foundation announced that it has purchased 100 acres in Bentonville as a site for a proposed health care campus to include a cardiac care facility. The site, approximately two miles east of downtown Bentonville, is adjacent to several major thoroughfares and highly accessible to the Northwest Arkansas region through its proximity to Interstate 49 (I-49).

In September 2024, the Foundation, Mercy, and Heartland Whole Health Institute announced a 30-year, $700 million affiliation agreement in a joint effort to expand access to health care, reduce costs, and improve health outcomes in the Heartland. It also announced that Cleveland Clinic will collaborate, providing world-class cardiovascular expertise to the effort.

To support this vision, Mercy committed $350 million to include building a new cardiac care center of excellence on its campus in Rogers, Arkansas, and the Foundation announced it will provide $350 million in part to develop an outpatient center of excellence for specialty care, including cardiac services, in Bentonville. These initiatives followed studies revealing that area residents frequently must leave the region to receive specialty care, with cardiology services as an area of greatest need. In the most recent study, more than $695 million leaves our region annually in outmigration of health care services.

“Residents of our region deserve access to affordable, high-quality specialty care right here at home,” said philanthropist Alice Walton, founder of Alice L. Walton Foundation, Heartland Whole Health Institute, Alice L. Walton School of Medicine and other organizations. “Staying close to your home and family during times of medical need is an important part of healing and improving well-being. We are at the early stages of developing this health care center of excellence, and our vision is to create a space that is accessible, welcoming, and nurturing for all in our region and beyond.”

Planning and design is currently underway for the cardiac care center of excellence, with an intent to open in late 2028.

Mercy Cardiac Care Developments

Anticipating the needs of cardiac care patients, construction is beginning at Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas to add 20 intensive care unit beds and 12 recovery beds. In addition, Mercy recently opened three operating suites and 22 new, medical surgical beds.

Mercy has accelerated the hiring of top-tier medical talent with more than 130 new providers joining over the past 2.5 years and plans to attract many more with the newly announced partnership. Immediately, Mercy is leading the work with Cleveland Clinic to assess cardiac needs in the community, strategically planning the framework for growth as the full scope of the cardiac center of excellence comes into focus.

Mercy also just opened five clinics in Northwest Arkansas to meet the high demand for exceptional, comprehensive health care.