Mercy Northwest Arkansas is in the middle of investing $277 million on capital projects and equipment between 2016 and 2021, an expansion in health care facilities and services that is expected to create 1,000 new health care jobs.

"Our hospital and clinics have been serving the community at a very high capacity," said Eric Pianalto, Mercy Hospital president. "To ensure we carry out our mission and continue to meet the needs of Northwest Arkansas, we developed this $277 million community presence plan that will allow us to serve our patients into the future by providing additional access to quality care and advancing the region as a health care destination."

Among expansion plans are:

• A new patient tower that will take Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas from 200 beds to 300-plus beds. Construction will accommodate future inpatient growth, with the goal of a total of 360 beds. The hospital tower is expected to open in the fall of 2019.
• The addition of multiple primary care and specialty clinics in Benton County and north Washington County. Mercy opened four new clinics in 2017, opened a primary care clinic this spring and will open another primary care clinic this fall, both in Bentonville.
• A $40 million, 60,000-square-foot multispecialty clinic in Springdale that initially will house two dozen primary care and specialty providers and a 24-hour emergency department with a trauma room.
• Enhancements to the hospital's already robust areas of specialty care, including the heart and vascular center and women's and children's services.
• Establishment of a University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences community internal medicine residency program in partnership with the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks in Fayetteville. The program will provide training to eight doctors the first year, growing to 24 doctors in three years.

"Having more clinics and recruiting new doctors and advanced practitioners to Mercy will allow our patients to get care close to home," said Dr. Steve Goss, president of Mercy Clinic. "Our intent is that these expansions will positively impact the health and wellness of the community."