Triad and What?s True

Triad Health Partners Inc., which owns Northwest Health Systems Inc. in Springdale, recently closed on the property for construction of a new hospital in Bentonville.

But word around town has been that the city stands to collect $5 million from Triad if Bentonville’s new hospital isn’t built sometime soon. That’s partly true.

There’s no $5 million, but Triad — which acquired Northwest Medical Center in Springdale and Bates Memorial Hospital in Bentonville Oct. 19 through its buyout of Quorum Health Group Inc. — must get a new facility built by Dec. 1, 2003, or it will be in breach of a contract with the city.

The health system closed Oct. 18 on 61.4 acres that cost $2.5 million and stretches from S. Walton Boulevard to S.E. 28th Street. Toni Black, a sales agent for Harris McHaney Shearin in Bentonville, closed the deal.

When Quorum bought Northwest in 1998, a lease agreement signed Dec. 1 of that year included a timetable provision. Northwest guaranteed that if it decided to build a new hospital in Bentonville, the facility would be completed within five years.

Camille Thompson, staff attorney for the city of Bentonville, said the contract is not clear on what happens if the new facility isn’t done on time. But she said possible repercussions include the hospital’s licenses not transferring to a new facility.

The responsibility for meeting the deadline was passed on to Quorum and Triad.

The dollar figure was probably confused with the $4.7 million Bentonville may get by selling the old Bates Medical Center to Triad after the new facility is completed. The Northwest-Quorum-Triad folks have been leasing Bates but have promised to buy the building from the city by 2009.