Final deal near for Forum’s Beeghly

Humility of Mary Health Partners will have a
financial interest in the Beeghly facility.

By WILLIAM K. ALCORN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — Akron Children’s Hospital hopes to finalize the $26 million deal to buy Forum Health’s Beeghly Medical Park by the end of the year, now that Ohio Atty. Gen. Marc Dann has OK’d the sale.

Akron Children’s also plans to spend $7 million to $10 million on renovations, and $5 million for equipment in converting the facility to a full-service children’s hospital, said William Considine, Akron Children’s president and chief executive officer.

He said the Beeghly project will be his company’s only free-standing pediatric facility outside of Akron.

Humility of Mary Health Partners, which has had an affiliation agreement since 2005 with Akron Children’s to provide pediatric services in the Mahoning Valley, also will have a financial interest in the Beeghly facility.

HMHP will contribute money to purchase the real estate at Beeghly, a spokeswoman said, and will share in the profit and losses of the pediatric service line there.

At present, Akron Children’s operates a pediatric unit in HMHP’s St. Elizabeth Health Center, and had planned to locate a hospital on one floor of St. Elizabeth’s new hospital in Boardman before taking an interest in Beeghly.

Robert Shroder, HMHP president and chief executive officer, said plans have not yet been finalized on what to do with the floor that was to house a children’s hospital.

Despite that, Shroder said that “we believe the acquisition of Beeghly is the best way for us to accomplish the goals we have set for our institutions.”

Robert M. Howard, administrative liaison for Akron Children’s, said the goal is to close the sale by the end of the year and be in operation in 2008. No timetable has been established, but he said the priorities will be in-patient and emergency pediatric units.

Considine said about 50 percent of Akron Children’s activity is outside of Akron, but in the form of affiliations within other hospital systems. For example, Akron Children’s currently operates a pediatric unit in St. Elizabeth Health Center.

Dann said the sale and development of Beeghly will bring a “world-class” pediatric facility to the Mahoning Valley, and at the same time enhances Forum Health’s financial status.

The state attorney general said the deal as originally structured “raised serious concerns” including conditions that prohibited Forum from providing certain services in the area. That would have adversely affected Northside’s ability to survive, whether it stays a part of Forum or is sold to another entity, he said.

Dann’s approval clears the way, once the deal is consummated, for Forum to move its maternity and women’s health care center from Beeghly to Northside, and then for Akron Children’s to begin renovations of the Beeghly facility to meet its needs.

Forum will close its ambulatory surgery department at Beeghly on Friday and combine it with the same department at Northside. However, a spokeswoman said, a timetable has not yet been developed for moving the other Forum operations from Beeghly.

From Akron Children’s standpoint, Howard said there are many details to consider, including a number of physicians who have office space leased at Beeghly, that will have to be dealt with at some point.

“It is not our intent to evict people. But as their leases come up for renewal, they will be re-evaluated,” Howard said.

Phillip Dennison, vice chairman of the Forum Board of Trustees, said money from the sale of Beeghly will be used to pay down debt, meet pension obligations and free up money for the investments needed to make Forum competitive.

“It is a very, very good day for Forum Health,” he said.

Considine said Akron Children’s has had a presence in the Mahoning Valley since 2000, and currently has about 200 employees here. He said that the hospital is interviewing some staff from the former Tod Children’s Hospital and that he expects to add more jobs in the Valley.

Though he believes the sale will enhance health-care services in the Valley, Dann said he remains deeply concerned about the future of the Forum Health system.

“We all must continue to work together to ensure that Forum, either in its current or some alternative form, remains a vital and viable component of the health-care delivery system in our area,” he said.

alcorn@vindy.com