Paul Umbach, founder and president of consulting firm Tripp Umbach, discusses a report on Northwest Arkansas’ health care community during the NWA Council’s annual meeting Nov. 13, 2024 at John Brown University in Siloam Springs. (Antoinette Grajeda/Arkansas Advocate)
Northwest Arkansas needs more health care workers if the region’s medical sector is to serve a rapidly growing population, a report released Wednesday recommends.
The strain on health care services is expected to grow in Benton and Washington counties where the population, which surpassed 590,000 residents in 2024, is projected to top 1 million by 2050.
“Northwest Arkansas Health Care Vision 2030: Continuing the Transformation,” a report conducted by Tripp Umbach, was the focus of the NWA Council’s annual meeting at John Brown University in Siloam Springs Wednesday. The study builds on another report released by the Kansas City consulting firm in 2019.
When the NWA Council created its Health Care Transformation Division five years ago at Tripp Umbach’s recommendation, the region’s medical community was losing money as patients traveled to other areas for care. Since the division’s creation, patient outmigration has been reduced from nearly $1 billion in 2018 to $695 million in 2023, according to the report.