Forum can proceed with behavioral medicine services transfer

YOUNGSTOWN — The interim president and chief executive officer of Forum Health says a federal judge’s ruling will allow Forum Health to move forward with plans to transfer operation of Forum Health’s behavioral medicine services to Diamond Healthcare.

Dr. Keith T. Ghezzi, in a memo issued late last week, said he is pleased that Judge Ann Aldrich of the U.S. Northern District Court overturned a temporary restraining order she had issued in September.

The order said Diamond Healthcare could not proceed with the takeover, which would have affected services provided at Forum Health’s Northside Medical Center here and Trumbull Memorial Hospital in Warren.

The Ohio Nurses Association’s Youngstown General Duty Nurses Association and the Service Employees International Union District 1199, both of which represent employees in the Behavioral Medicine Unit, filed for the temporary restraining order.

In it, the unions said the takeover would trigger the dismissal of 60 employees at Northside and would be a breach of contract.

“Put simply, while Forum Health has the right to reorganize its business to avoid insolvency, it must not do so in ways prohibited by the contracts it has signed,” Judge Aldrich ruled Friday. The ruling continued, “if it attempts to do so, it must resolve disputes in accordance with those contracts.”