Transforming Healthcare in the Heartland

Join us for an insightful conversation with Walter Harris, CEO and President of the Heartland Whole Health Institute, as we explore the institute's revolutionary vision for transforming healthcare in Northwest Arkansas and beyond. 

Discover how this groundbreaking wellness campus initiative is bridging the gap to healthcare. From value-based care models and discovering new delivery systems to virtual healthcare solutions and specialty care, Walter shares the institute's holistic approach to wellness, incorporating art, nature, and community engagement.

Get a sneak peek into when the institute and school will be complete and learn about the long-term impact they will have on the region and the state. Don't miss this captivating discussion on the future of healthcare in the heartland.

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Transcript

Jaclyn House: 0:10

Welcome to A New American Town, a podcast proudly presented by Visit Bentonville. I'm your host, Jaclyn Howe's, broadcasting from Haxton Road Studios near the downtown Bentonville Square. Join us as we share captivating stories and updates from our city, connecting you with the locals that make this town worth visiting. Now, today's episode is very special. I'm super excited to welcome Walter. Walter Harris is here. Thank you so much for joining us today. You're the CEO and president at Heartland Whole Health Institute, which was founded in 2019. So, just a few years ago, tell us about the overall health transformation, the vision, and then specifically the institute's mission and what that looks like right now.

Walter Harris: 0:57

Well, first, Jaclyn, thank you for having me. We appreciate it. Well, the institute was founded by Alice Walton with the vision of partnering with Northwest Arkansas Council, health systems, elected officials, community-based clinics and members of the community to reduce health care costs, to increase what we consider quality measures and outcomes for the region and to increase access. And we're doing those things to really bring volume-based care out of the way and bring value-based care into the middle. And the way the institute plans to execute these areas would be through a value-based care model, through a virtual care setting and through specialty care. And so the way we look at those is value-based, takes a volume-based approach out of the way that I said earlier, but it plays patients in the right places for the right reasons. For example, if you're managing chronic conditions, you may not need to go through the ER, right? We want to have a process where we have a concierge type of service where we bring a patient in and, by the way, chronic conditions are something that can be managed and even cured if managed properly on a regular basis. So that's the value-based approach the virtual care piece is based on how can we get to those who need health who can't get to us, and so the virtual care model helps with that. We have the modalities of recent folks out in the deserts within Arkansas. That brings us to a way to have conference calls with patients, that virtual care piece around. How do we work people through their own personal issues? Mental health is another way to have virtual care being taken care of. So that virtual care model really does allow us to get the people who don't normally can't get to us. And then specialty care. You know we have $1.2 billion of outmigration in Arkansas a year, and just to look at specialty care in a way that allows us to begin to attack that outmigration, what we consider lower as a cost curve, again, all three of these things value-based care, virtual care, specialty care all play together.

Walter Harris: 3:00

And so let's give an example of a patient who has a high temperature, and so you send them to the ER. Well, maybe the ER wasn't the right place to go, but if you had a virtual care team on duty 24 by 7, they could call into you. They can walk them through their symptoms, probably have them self-diagnosed in ways that gets them to a calm, steady stage before sending them to ER or sending them to some specialist that may not really need to render those type of services. So all three areas play together. That's kind of how the Institute will focus itself. We will be a partner. We play various roles. We'll be a partner and enabler and an educator and all those things. We can play one role or all three roles at any given time. So that's kind of the vision and mission of the Institute, based on how Alice Walton kind of brought it all together.

Jaclyn House: 3:46

Sure, and that sounds very revolutionary here for us in Northwest Arkansas. So it's nice that you're just you know, kind of at the foundation of this happening. Let's talk about how the Heartland Whole Health Institute and the Alice Walton School of Medicine, how they connected and working together.

Walter Harris: 4:03

Yeah, well, there may be two physically different buildings. Our model and motto of bridging the gap to better health care together is really pointing to the school and Institute playing well together. And the third piece of this model is the delivery systems. We want them to play well with us as well. So when the school creates a new type of doctor, the Institute wants to be able to go out and talk about what that means. Working with the delivery systems to create new models of care, and the new model of care won't necessarily be coming to a brick and mortar all the time.

Walter Harris: 4:36

It goes back to the virtual care piece. Right, you have technology that's going to lead the way going forward, as you've probably heard in many places where you've talked about health care. Ai, augmented intelligence, is one way to help doctors and nurses do their jobs right, and so these two organizations play well together. We're bridging the gaps to better health care together, but to school is teaching better new doctors. The Institute is actually fully outward facing engaging with the community. We're educating folks. We're actually bringing folks together to talk about how we fix things, and so their roles are critically important. As you make doctors, they have to go out through the community and we'd like to be a consistent thing that happens between the school and the institute.

Jaclyn House: 5:15

Okay, okay, so hand in hand. Okay Now, I know a lot of people I know myself. I have seen renderings of the two facilities that are under construction right now. Tell us a little bit about those buildings and then when are they expected to be open?

Walter Harris: 5:30

Well, you have to step back and think about the vision Alice had with Crystal Bridges and even the airport that was created here. She has that exact same vision for how the school. So you would think that you would build a school about us in an institute, in a way that sits off by itself. No, she went one step further. They'll all be on the same campus. Yes, and we do believe there's a strong connection between art and healing and wellness, and so to have all three play together on the single campus is amazing. Not only will you see the great Crystal Bridges, you'll see students who are being taught and trained walk on the campus, making some vibrancy happen. You'll see the institute bringing folks from around the country into Bentonville to talk about health related issues on a regular basis, so you'll see a very vibrant campus.

Walter Harris: 6:09

The School of Medicine comes online next spring. Pending accreditation we like to have our students start next fall. The Institute comes online. It can be construction. It's got to be completed November of this year, that's right, and so they'll be, every year for a while

Walter Harris: 6:28

you'll see some new things happening in this community the school institute next year, this year, the school next year and, pending accreditation, students will start to flow through the school and then, a few years beyond that, you're going to start to see some delivery models being put together, with a new system around health plex, which is going to have virtual care. It will have mental health and behavior services, it will have potentially cancer, potentially have neuro in it, and so this is a big model. Now are we trying to do this alone? Absolutely not. It requires everyone in this region to come together to make health care better. We are 48 out of 50. As it relates to outcomes, and we Google 50 out of 50 when it comes to mother-baby. Those two things are important, and so having the community come together with us elected officials, the North West Arkansas Council, mercy Health System, Washington Regional name just a few of what it takes to really make this happen. So we can't do it alone. It requires an entire village.

Jaclyn House: 7:27

Yeah, and I like the idea where you said it's a wellness campus, with the museum being there and those amazing trails right around, to your point because, tying together art and wellness, there is something there. I don't have a medical background, but I myself do feel that you know a strong believer of let me just get outside and feel the sun or just look at the beauty around us.

Jaclyn House: 7:52

So the fact that the Institute, the School of Medicine and the museum all on one campus is absolutely amazing and, again, revolutionary here for us here in Northwest Arkansas, for us here that are local to NWA. What will we be able to experience through the Institute and through the school?

Walter Harris: 8:10

Well, that's a great question and I would say don't leave out Crystal Bridges and Art Bridges. Virtually, you should be able to experience. If you come into the School of Medicine, you should be able to experience something with Crystal Bridges. If you come into Crystal Bridges, you should be able to experience something with Art Bridges. If you come into Art Bridges, you should be able to experience something with the Institute. So we want that virtual connection to be where you can't tell you want a place for another. But the buildings, the physical buildings, of course you'll know you're in different places, but the campus atmosphere itself is driven by exactly what you talked about earlier.

Walter Harris: 8:39

We believe there's a strong connection between nature and health. I mean, have you ever you personally taken yourself and said let me take a few deep breaths, go out and face the sign and notice that your blood pressure is going down, your heart rate is going down? There's a strong connection with nature and health. And so Alice's whole vision around how they make us a very nature driven and oriented campus is amazing to me. It is really geared to have doctors, for example. Not only will they examine patients better, but they're going to do self-examination. The curriculum is set to where their wholeness around health and wellness as they go through medical school is important to them.

Walter Harris: 9:14

The other thing we were talking about with doctors is we want them to be more centered around how a health care system operates not just the science pieces of it, but the business pieces of it. I mean, what if doctors had a return on investment calculator that said that every single time I send someone to the ER it costs this much and weighs this much time on a patient's vital life? What if we gave them this so they could know in advance you know I won't send them to the ER Maybe they need to have the care and conversations of a primary care doctor, walk them through how to exercise, how to eat better. And health care and wellness goes beyond health care. There's housing right, there's financial literacy, which is very important. Understanding to maybe reach your explanation of benefits is really important, and so the Institute plays that role in educating, but the School of Medicine plays a role in getting doctors educated in these same spaces, so there's a continuity of training and teaching there.

Jaclyn House: 10:05

Okay, okay, I see, but also, too, there is a way to get people active as well. You know we talked about going outside and you know breathing that fresh air, but also a way to get people moving and active walking around, maybe even getting on a bike to get them active. So love the intentional activation when it comes to thinking about where the Institute and the school is going to be placed. On a more personal note, you relocated here to Bentonville and you've been here for what? About two years? Two years, two years. What has been your professional journey? What's that been like? How did you end up at the Institute?

Walter Harris: 10:42

Well, one of the reasons I came here was I was led by my passion for health care. You know, I personal story was my mother gave birth to me when she was 41. And back then they said she should probably terminate her pregnancy. And she said that's not going to happen. And so the doctor and other caregivers said you know, he probably won't be a down syndrome child, won't be able to come out of middle school. But yeah, here I sit before you. College graduate has managed billions of dollars worth of assets in whole nine yards. Right, sure, it starts right there. So my passion with this starts right there. I have an attitude towards healthcare in a good way, right, but you can't change a game unless you get into the game. So, but the personal story is now. We were asked to come to Arkansas. I said to my wife there is no way we're gonna move there. I flew in and I saw some of the most beautiful, beautiful foliage I've ever seen in my life. Here I fly drones as a personal habit, as a private habit.

Jaclyn House: 11:32

Really.

Walter Harris: 11:33

And when you fly drones on Arkansas this time of year or fall time of year, you get some, only get God given shots from that. So that's one thing to drove me here, but the warmth of the people is the number one driver. You think you come to a town that's gonna be a little bit different, based on what is characterized to be the South, and you come into some places totally different— warm, friendly, open, and my chore here as a Healthcare leader has been pretty easy, considering what my background has been right. But here people come together, work well together. They won't help you better, they want us to help them figure out what that is, and so coming here was easy for me. I called my wife and said you know, yeah, come here. She came in and she was like, wow, I don't like it, I love it here. And so we've been here 2 years and 3 months and have had nothing but a great time. No place is perfect, but we feel that this is the right place for us.

Jaclyn House: 12:23

Sure, so it's safe to say that you've settled in very well.

Walter Harris: 12:26

We settled in.

Jaclyn House: 12:27

Okay, good, any favorite discoveries in the region?

Walter Harris: 12:32

Yeah, I go back to the drone piece where most people don't know my pilot. But I only fly a small, small prop plastic drone. But those drones, when you are elevated to a height where you can see things that can't be seen from the ground, you take pictures that a human eye just cannot even conceive. And so this place is amazingly beautiful going to Beaver Lake, where I fly the drone over the water and you see all these things come together, driving up to Eureka Springs where you see, this really sleepy town is really vibrant.

Walter Harris: 12:57

Even in the winter time it's pretty vibrant. So it's a hidden gem, is what I called Northwest Arkansas, but I call the state of Arkansas an opportunity, because my dad, was born in Helen, Arkansas, okay, and back then Helen, Arkansas, was really probably not even a quarter to what it is right now. So I'm motivated for many reasons to come here to do this work. But, more importantly, I have a passion for health care unlike no other, and that have my mother made a different decision, I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you right now. So I'm, I'm, I'm punished for doing something good.

Jaclyn House: 13:28

Also mother knows best. Well, the podcast is presented by Visit Bentonville, so we always like to ask people if you're hosting people in town. What are your top three must do's?

Walter Harris: 13:43

You must go to Crystal Bridges. It's not because Alice made it, it's an amazing museum. It is when you walk through it. You see the the history of our country, walking through a single set of buildings on that campus. It's it's amazing place to see. You must go to the farmers market downtown and, believe it or not, there are a ton of restaurant options right here in this place, and so here's how you explore Bentonville.

Walter Harris: 14:06

Okay, get out and see what's in it, right, it's not the end all to be off of everything you want to do. But if you want to come and live a great, easy life that has really a lot of warmth to it, with beautiful nature scenes and people who are actually very warm, you come here. But the farmers market, Eureka Springs, Crystal Bridges we do a lot of restaurants hopping around here and there's just a lot of good driving around the highways to see how beautiful the state really is. I see why it's called the natural state.

Jaclyn House: 14:34

Yeah, do you have a favorite restaurant in Bentonville?

Walter Harris: 14:37

Yeah, we actually find ourselves at several places and I'm not gonna call out one restaurant, but I'll just say there are great burger places here. Yes, they're great places that serve a variety of really good foods here, both in town and out of town, and so I was going to give you a name but I thought, no, no, no, I won't get myself in trouble. I'll just say that most of the right. I tell you what I haven't had a bad meal and any restaurant that I've been here been here for. So it's. It's really surprising how well the options offerings are for cuisine. But you know it also is a great place for kids. It is a wonderful place for kids. And so my favorite restaurant. I won't give you that, but I'll tell you I've never had a bad meal there or any other place yet.

Jaclyn House: 15:17

Okay, that's fair.

Walter Harris: 15:17

Yeah, that is fair.

Jaclyn House: 15:20

Let's talk about long term for the Institute and the medical school. What will be the impact of the health initiatives in the heartland and beyond?

Walter Harris: 15:30

yeah, that's a fantastic question, Given that I said earlier, we're 48 out of 50 for quality outcomes, we're 50 out of 50 for mother-baby.

Walter Harris: 15:41

Ten years from now, we need to be a destination of choice for healthcare and by doing some of the things we're doing, working with the community, the plan is to prove all these things that happened right here in Northwest Arkansas and the state of Arkansas, because remember, like the virtual center, it's not just for Northwest Arkansas. We want to be able to have the state access it, and so we want to say the 10 years from now, this is the destination of choice for healthcare, that we would have attacked outmigration, that we have folks who live in the healthcare desert have a way to get to healthcare through various modalities, and that the doctors we turn out will begin to change how healthcare delivered and we ultimately bend the cost curve. We are a country that spends the most on healthcare but has the least desired outcomes, which tells me there's opportunity there and that we cannot continue to have it go this way. So we need to find ourselves 10 years from now being more value-based focused than volume-based focused.

Jaclyn House: 16:38

Walter, thank you so much for joining us today on the podcast. If you see Walter out and about, either at Crystal Bridges or one of the restaurants locally, or even if you're in Eureka Springs, please say hello. He is very passionate about healthcare and it is fantastic just to be able to have you here in Northwest Arkansas as we are really really building that quality and next level healthcare here for people in our community. Don't forget, Visit Bentonville is here to help you navigate things to do, where to eat and stay and, of course, what's going on in the city. Give us a follow on social media and check out our website, visitbentonville. com. Thanks for listening.