NARTI Shows Health Care Versatility

Nonprofit radiation institute changes with Northwest Arkansas’ demands

Over the last two years, the Northwest Arkansas Radiation Therapy Institute has pursued a series of changes to become a strong, dependable provider of cancer treatment. Now with three locations in the area, a new CEO and cutting-edge technology, 15-year-old NARTI’s presence seems stable in a changing field.

Originally designed in 1985 as a cooperative effort among 13 area hospitals, NARTI is the product of a no-compete agreement to provide Northwest Arkansas with high-quality treatment. As the only radiation provider in the area, the nonprofit institute carries the full patient load from Washington, Benton, Madison and Carroll counties.

About 75 patients filter through NARTI every day.

NARTI, of Springdale, increased its convenience by opening two other, 7,000-SF treatment locations — one in Fayetteville in 1999 and one in Bentonville last year.

“We’ve now become so much more accessible for our patients since we moved into three facilities,” said new NARTI CEO Brian Holt. “It has been more of a benefit than even I realized.”

Fighting traffic to get to the first NARTI location on U.S. Highway 412 was too difficult for many NARTI patients. Even driving between Fayetteville and Springdale for daily treatments tolled patients, Holt said. Now, each site caters to its surrounding area.

Since opening last year, the Bentonville location has adopted about 40 percent of the patient load, Holt said. St. Mary’s Hospital donated the land for NARTI’s Bentonville site. Including that $345,600 land donation, 1999 gross revenue for the whole NARTI operation reached $4.92 million, increasing 31.7 percent from $3.74 million in 1994. NARTI’s net income for fiscal year 1999 totaled $1.32 million.

Of the three sister locations, Bentonville, which acquired a multileaf collimator last May, uses the latest radiation equipment. The collimator uses an electronically shaped beam of radiation to precisely target a tumor from any angle. Adding the $500,000 attachment reduced patient treatment time and eased the therapists’ job by disposing of the heavy blocks previously used to shape the beam, Holt said.

Holt said NARTI applied for a grant to outfit the Fayetteville and Springdale locations this year but that it would be several weeks before the grant recipient is announced.

Following a national trend, NARTI decided to house a medical oncologist in the Bentonville and Fayetteville locations. Oncologists from Highlands Oncology Group already work in the Bentonville location, Holt said, and doctors from the center are scheduled to set up shop next door to the Fayetteville NARTI this week.

Offering chemotherapy and radiation in the same location is a new concept for Arkansas, said NARTI Board Chairman Jim Tull. Patients receiving both treatments can get everything they need from one location.

“It’s very convenient one-stop shopping in the cancer treatment area,” Tull said, adding that the arrangement had created a valuable physician network.

Tull said the addition of Holt as CEO helped NARTI continue to develop. When CEO Eddie Bradford retired last summer, NARTI began a national search for a replacement. Holt was one of three candidates considered by the board, even as he acted as interim CEO.

“Brian is an extremely dedicated, hard worker,” Tull said. “There’s no question that Eddie was preparing him for this role.”

As CEO, Holt first addressed a major industry issue. A national shortage of radiation therapists prompted him to increase NARTI therapists’ salaries.

The institute now pays more to attract and retain therapists, Holt said, although he wouldn’t divulge current or previous salaries.

“We had to pay them what they wanted to keep them here,” Tull said.

Because NARTI is short one therapist, Holt is advertising the vacancy in national trade magazines.