More time to work toward a better solution at Forum

More time to work toward a better solution at Forum

While there are still reasons for the public to be concerned about the secrecy under which the Forum Health board of directors continues to operate, it is at least heartening to seen that the board has asked for and received more time to consider the future of the hospital system.

This is especially true since recent efforts involving Mayor Jay Williams, Gov. Ted Strickland and local legislators could, given a bit more time, result in federal loan guarantees for Forum’s debts. The guarantees would allow Forum to satisfy its out-of-town creditors and pursue a reorganization plan that would preserve Forum’s assets: Northside Medical Center, Trumbull Memorial Hospital, Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital.

These are not only valuable community assets with a 125-year history of providing health care in the Mahoning Valley, they are major employers, providing about 4,000 well-paying jobs.

Many of those jobs would doubtless survive whatever sale of Forum’s assets was approved by the bankruptcy court, but hundreds or thousands could be in jeopardy. It is difficult to know, given that so little is known about the companies or institutions that have submitted bids. The institution facing the greatest danger would seem to be Northside, and if its new owner drastically scaled back its operations, Youngstown would take a major hit, both in reduced services and lost jobs.

Broad implications

The sale of Forum’s hospitals to a for-profit corporation would impact Forum’s three hospitals, their employees and their patients. It would potentially shift the burden of charity care carried by Forum to Youngstown’s and Warren’s other major health-care provider, Humility of Mary, which operates St. Elizabeth and St. Joseph hospitals.

Forum’s last CEO with strong local ties was Walter “Buzz” Pishkur, who was convinced, before being squeezed out, that his three-year plan would return the hospital system to profitability. Forum’s creditors, however, were unpersuaded, or at least unwilling to take a chance on failure. Federal loan guarantees would remove that uncertainty and would be consistent with the federal government’s interest in preserving jobs and providing health care alternatives.

It is, at least, a plan that the public can discuss. Everything else the board has before it is, as far as the public is concerned, a pig in a poke.