Change is in the mix for Forum Health

YOUNGSTOWN — The sale of Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital in Howland Township, layoffs, and work rule changes for union employees at Northside Medical Center are moves Forum Health leaders say are needed to reduce debt and keep the hospital system alive long-term

Three parties, two local and one national, are “aggressively interested” in Hillside, said Lowell Johnson, Forum chief executive officer. He declined to name the people interested in Hillside, which has 300 employees.

A new conference was called by the hospital Thursday to discuss the report by The Chartis Group, a healthcare consulting firm hired by the Ohio Attorney General’s office in 2007 to study the hospital situation in the Mahoning Valley.

Johnson said the sale of Hillside, which he hoped would be ready for Forum Board of Trustees action by the end of June, would produce $10 million to $12 million in revenue. Forum announced Wednesday that it has a tentative agreement to sell its Forum Health at Home to Celtic Healthcare for between $3 million and $4 million.

Assuming both entities are sold, it would appear to go a long way toward Forum bringing its unfunded debt below the $100,000 level, which Johnson said is the goal for this calender year.

Read more in Friday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com