An aerial view of Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville. Photo courtesy of Washington Regional Medical System

The Alice L. Walton Foundation and Washington Regional Medical System will create a new nonprofit medical system focused on training future doctors, the two organizations announced Monday.

Why it matters: NWA residents are leaving the area for specialty health care because the population is increasing faster than the area can get doctors, such as cardiologists, oncologists and neurologists.

Context: This was born out of the partnership announced last summer between the Alice L. Walton Foundation and Cleveland Clinic to assess specialty health care in NWA.

The big picture: Washington Regional wants to become a regional academic health system focused on training doctors beyond general medicine, president and CEO Larry Shackelford tells Axios.

Between the lines: A lot of the specifics are TBD. It's too early to say for sure whether this means new construction, such as a hospital or clinics, Shackelford says.

What's next: The foundation and Washington Regional will develop operational plans by the end of this year.

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New nonprofit medical system in the works for NWA - Axios