Rendering of the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine. (Courtesy photo)
Training physicians to treat patients in a more holistic manner is the goal of a new medical school set to open its doors in July in Northwest Arkansas.
The Alice L. Walton School of Medicine (AWSOM) secured preliminary accreditation status from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education in October, which allowed the school to begin recruiting students to its new Bentonvillle campus. The institution plans to welcome 48 students to its Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) program this summer, and tuition will be waived for its first five cohorts.
Dr. Yogi Hernandez Suarez, who became AWSOM’s executive vice dean in October, said waiving tuition is “a really big deal” because medical debt is an issue everywhere, and this could create the opportunity for some students to consider medical school who otherwise could not take on the financial risk.
“Part of our commitment is to try to find everybody who is capable of doing the work to come into the house of medicine so that the physician workforce increasingly reflects our community,” Hernandez Suarez said.
AWSOM was founded in 2021 by philanthropist and Walmart heiress Alice Walton, who – based on her own health care experiences – recognized the need for a whole-person approach, according to a press release.
“The School of Medicine will play a pivotal role in educating the next generation of physicians, equipping them to care for the whole person and making a lasting impact on health care in the Heartland and beyond,” Walton said in a statement.
Heartland Forward, a “think and do tank” based in Bentonville, defines the Heartland as 20 states in the middle of the United States, including Arkansas, Kansas, Minnesota and Ohio.
Training students in a “whole health” model means placing patients in the middle and thinking about the systems of care surrounding them, Hernandez Suarez said. While a specific ailment may bring patients to a physician, Hernandez Suarez said there are several factors, including relationships at home, insurance payment models or a lack of insurance, and local and federal policies that all shaped their health.
“Most health does not happen in the doctor’s office,” she said. “We meet a patient at a point in time and on a health journey, but everything pretty much happens out there in the set of circumstances in their life, and having some kind of understanding of that makes you so much more effectual as a physician.”
AWSOM will provide a traditional four-year program, and Hernandez Suarez noted a unique aspect of the curriculum is very early integration of clinical experiences. One example might include a supervised early learner taking a family history from a real patient in a local clinic, she said.
Though the school is not tied to a teaching hospital or large university, as is often the case for medical schools, AWSOM has several community partners and the benefit of being part of the “Walton ecosystem of art and wellness,” Hernandez Suarez said.
The 154,000 square-foot, four-story medical school is being constructed next to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. An apartment complex with 300 units that will provide housing for students and the community is being built on an 11-acre site adjacent to the school and is expected to open in 2026.
Asked about the cost of construction and future tuition prices, AWSOM Director of Marketing and Communications Aaron Anderson said the school didn’t have a construction figure to provide. While cost structures may change during the five cohorts, “we will always be looking for ways to reduce barriers to entry for incoming classes,” he said.
The campus of Walton-backed projects also includes the Heartland Whole Health Institute that’s under construction. With a focus on addressing the current health care crisis, the institute’s goals include lowering costs, improving quality and broadening access in the Heartland “by catalyzing new delivery models, using whole health principles, that can be replicated to disrupt the national health care experience,” according to its website.
The institute, along with the Alice L. Walton Foundation and Mercy, announced in September a 30-year, $700-million affiliation with Cleveland Clinic, which will provide cardiovascular expertise. As part of the agreement, Mercy will serve as the primary education partner for AWSOM.
Hernandez Suarez credited Walton’s efforts to tackle health care challenges from a different angle, noting that it’s hard to innovate and make changes in the customary models.
“To set up this model of a medical school connected to an institute on the campus of a forest and an art museum, with the support of great institutions of clinical affiliates in this part of the world, it’s pretty cool,” she said.
Community partners
Hernandez Suarez said faculty will develop “day one ready” students by providing them experience in a variety of environments thanks to partnerships with regional clinical sites, including Washington Regional Medical Center, Fayetteville Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Arkansas Children’s Northwest, Highlands Oncology, Springwoods Behavioral Health, Arisa Health, Community Clinic and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
UAMS, the state’s only comprehensive medical science university, has campuses in Little Rock and Northwest Arkansas. Ryan Cork, vice chancellor of UAMS Northwest, said his campus can graduate up to 25 medical students annually, but has typically averaged 21-22.
Noting that partnerships are about “the tide raising all the ships in the harbor,” Cork said he looks forward to partnering with AWSOM however he can and incorporating the school into the collaborative environment that exists amongst the region’s health care providers.
“Our ability to work together I think is a positive, it separates us from other communities,” he said. “It’s a great place to be in Northwest Arkansas – the life and the outdoors and the lifestyle – but this education, teaching, learning environment and collaboration amongst the hospitals is uniquely unique to Northwest Arkansas.”
Cork joined UAMS in September from the Northwest Arkansas Council, where he had served as the nonprofit’s executive director of health care transformation since 2021.
According to a recent report commissioned by the NWA Council, Arkansas faces a physician shortage, a problem that’s likely to grow because 35% of the state’s physicians are over the age of 60. Arkansas also has a shortage of postgraduate medical residencies and because most physicians practice within 60 miles of their residency, the state will likely lose talent, according to the report.
Washington Regional in Fayetteville has worked with UAMS to expand residency slots by undertaking geographic wage reclassification with the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which will allow Washington Regional to adjust its federally subsidized residency cap. Washington Regional has established 50 residency positions and will apply for accreditation once funding is made available for additional residency slots.
Arkansas lawmakers approved $12.5 million in 2020 and have committed to additional funding to expand residencies and fellowships across the state, according to the NWA Council report.
There are several hospitals and clinics in Northwest Arkansas; however, community leaders say more providers are needed to adequately serve the region’s booming population that’s expected to grow to 1 million by 2050.
Meanwhile, many of the state’s rural communities lack access to care altogether. To help deliver more physicians to these areas, Cork said UAMS Northwest offers a three-year program for students wishing to practice in a rural environment.
“Ensuring that we’re adequately serving the entire state, we cannot be singularly focused on Northwest Arkansas and forget about everyone else,” he said. “…Regardless if you live in Bentonville or DeQueen, Arkansas, you should have the same access to care wherever you are, and that is our goal.”
Though community and state leaders have zeroed in on training more doctors, Cork said it’s also important to focus on training additional health care workers like nurses who are needed to support physicians.
UAMS Northwest currently has 339 students, 73 of which are in the College of Medicine. The remaining students are studying in the colleges of nursing, pharmacy and health professions. UAMS Northwest is looking to expand in two roles for its nursing program as part of its effort to deploy more health care workers into the community, Cork said.
As partnerships develop in the coming years with new medical schools, programs and students, educators and administrators say they’re all working toward the same goal.
“The endgame for us is very clear that we are here to improve the health of the community,” Hernandez Suarez. “We know that that means that we need doctors and we need doctors who are committed to the community.”
To view this story, or more news updates from Arkansas Advocate, click here.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI