Forum deadline reset for Jan. 11

By Don Shilling

The health provider says extra time is needed because of its ‘careful approach.’

Forum Health and its creditors have extra time to decide whether to sell the health-care system or propose their own reorganization plan.

Forum said Friday that a deadline for deciding whether it can reorganize without a sale has been pushed back from Monday to Jan. 11.

Extra time is needed because of the “careful approach” that is being taken to review the two options before Forum, it said in a news release.

Officials are reviewing bids that have been submitted while at the same time developing a reorganization plan for the system, Forum said.

As part of creating its own plan, Forum is holding “productive discussions” with its labor unions, the release said.

Tom Connelly, who represents nurses at Trumbull Memorial Hospital in Warren, said he was not surprised by the extension.

“I don’t believe they’ve decided which way they want to go,” said Connelly, president of Local 2026 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

Hospital officials have been outlining the scope of their problems but haven’t yet proposed solutions to union leaders or indicated if they are leaning toward a sale, he said.

Bids already have been submitted should Forum opt for a sale.

Forum hasn’t said much about the bidding process, but three federal legislators said in a letter that four bids have been submitted.

Three of the bidders are interested in operating the entire system, and one was interested only in Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital in Howland, the legislators said. Forum also owns Northside Medical Center in Youngstown and Trumbull Memorial Hospital in Warren.

The legislators appealed to President Barack Obama for financial assistance for the system, which is operating under bankruptcy court protection.

The legislators said the system is in jeopardy of closing without a loan guarantee or some other type of federal assistance.

Forum had been expected to announce whether it was going forward with a sale by Monday, and a hearing was set for Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Youngstown.

This is the second time that a decision has been delayed. Forum originally was to decide if it could reorganize without a sale by Nov. 30.