Mercy Fort Smith opens expanded clinic at Chaffee Crossing

Rising demand for primary care services and the need to expand a medical residency program in collaboration with the Arkansas Colleges of Health Education (ACHE) were the primary reasons for an almost $4.2 million expansion of Mercy Clinic Primary Care at Chaffee Crossing.

Officials with Mercy Fort Smith and ACHE gathered Wednesday (March 11) for a ceremonial opening of the expanded space. Work began in March 2025 on the 19,548-square-foot expansion that includes 13 new patient care rooms. The expanded clinic is home to seven full-time physicians and 38 resident physicians through ACHE. The residency number will increase by two family medicine residents per year for the next three years, according to Mercy. The chief resident at the clinic is Dr. Anam Siddiqi.

Since it began in 2021, Mercy’s family medicine residency program has grown from eight physicians to 30 and is expected to grow each year, according to Mercy. Mercy said the construction, completed by Fort Smith-based Beshears Construction, cost about $3.7 million, with other costs totaling $497,000.

“What makes this expansion especially meaningful is the role this clinic plays beyond patient care,” said Dr. Paul Bean, chief medical officer at Mercy Fort Smith. “This clinic is also a place where future physicians are formed. By educating and training primary care doctors, this clinic helps strengthen not only today’s care delivery but the future of health care in our region.”

According to Mercy, rooms in the expanded facility are larger to accommodate families and those with disabilities. Care at the clinic includes general primary care, care for chronic conditions, wellness visits, sports physicals, vaccines and immunizations, health screenings and exams, and preventative care.

The space also will help physicians work with patients needing osteopathic manipulative treatment, which “involves the use of manually guided forces by a doctor of osteopathic medicine (DO) to improve structural and physiologic function,” according to Mercy.

“This expansion allows us to care for even more patients in a space designed for teamwork, learning and high-quality primary care,” said Dr. Chris Fortson, family medicine physician and program director of the residency program. “By creating room for additional residents and medical students, we’re not only meeting today’s growing needs, but we’re also investing in the physicians who will serve our communities for decades to come. The hands-on experience they gain here directly strengthens the future of health care in our region.”

The expanded Chaffee Crossing clinic is part of numerous Fort Smith regional investments by St. Louis-based Mercy in recent years. The hospital system in 2025 opened the $186 million expansion of its main hospital in Fort Smith. That work included expanding the emergency department from 29 to 50 rooms, with ICU beds rising from 36 to 64.

Mercy also partnered with Tahlequah, Okla.-based Cherokee Nation to begin work in August 2025 on an estimated $41 million cancer center that will be attached to the main hospital’s existing area for cancer services. Cherokee Nation donated $8 million toward the project.

Mercy also has invested in the expansion and renovations of its regional clinics, with one of the more recent being a new clinic in Roland, Okla., that opened in April 2025.