Forum Health trustees mulling whether to sell part or all of the Youngstown health system — or not

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Trustees of Forum Health in Youngstown will decide during the next two weeks whether to sell part or all of their health system — or reorganize its operations so it can emerge from bankruptcy court.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Kay Woods has set Nov. 30 as the date for a decision, said Vince Bevacqua, spokesman for Forum Health. Until then, the trustees will deliberate over bids for assets in private. The health system has said nothing yet about the bids, which were due Friday.

“This is a standard part of going through a bankruptcy and trying to explore all the options,” Bevacqua said. “It would be a mistake to interpret it as an act of intent. They’re basically entertaining options and then the board will look at those options and make some decisions, whether to sell a piece, whether to sell the system in its entirety, or whether to reorganization and then to continue on.”

Forum Health, which operates Northside Medical Center in Youngstown, Trumbull Memorial Hospital in Warren, Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital in Howland and Austintown Medical Park in Mahoning and Trumbull counties, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization on March 16. The institution said then it needed more time to execute a “revitalization strategy” (pdf) that included cutting expenses and debt, and selling some assets.

At the time, the health system owed creditors $139 million, according to the Youngstown Vindicator. It said it employed nearly 4,000 people.

It’s been a bumpy ride for employees and creditors. In May, the health system’s largest labor union said the system could cut as many as 277 jobs as it tried to reorganize in bankruptcy court, according to the Warren Tribune Chronicle. In late October, the health system said it would cut 52 jobs at its Northside Medical Center, according to the Vindicator.

Bevacqua said today Forum Health doesn’t comment on the number of positions it might eliminate by the end of the year.

In the meantime, Northside Medical Center was slated for closure, then won a reprieve, thanks to a creditor agreement that cost CEO Warren “Buzz” Pishkur his job. But creditors objected to Forum’s plan to hire an interim CEO and a consulting firm.

Last week, elected officials rallied behind the idea of Forum Health emerging from bankruptcy court intact so that it could continue to serve its communities, according to the Vindicator.