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Forum seeks further savings
Forum Health
Video
Forum has taken steps that will save the organization $6 million a year.
HOWLAND — Forum Health is meeting or exceeding the financial benchmarks negotiated with its lenders.
But, stressed Walter J. Pishkur, Forum president and chief executive officer, concessions from its unionized employees, as well as other cost saving efforts, are needed for the health care system to climb out of bankruptcy.
Forum filed March 16 for Chapter 11 protection under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Its restructuring plan must be submitted by Sept. 15 to the bankruptcy court, which Pishkur said has mandated Forum be out of bankruptcy by year’s end.
Benchmarks include cash receipts and disbursements, admissions, and money spent to operate.
In a wide-ranging discussion during a press conference Wednesday, Forum officials discussed some of the things it has done to improve its financial picture, and some of the challenges it faces.
Michael Seelman, chief operating officer at Northside Medical Center in Youngstown, said the bankruptcy filing has galvanized people and brought them together.
“It is energizing to see how physicians and employees and the community have rallied around Forum,” said Seelman, who also is senior vice president for Forum Health Services, which includes Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital in Howland.
He said another positive sign is that Northside, a teaching hospital, was able to fill its 33 openings for residencies in one day for the third consecutive year.
Robert Wollaben, COO for Trumbull Memorial Hospital in Warren, said TMH has been successful in recruiting several new physicians despite the bankruptcy issue.
“We’re continuing to reach out to the community, and it’s business as usual,” said Wollaben, who is also executive vice president of Forum Health.
Seelman said the patient census at Northside was 175 as of Tuesday, and the average number of beds filled is between 150 and 175. The hospital has about 200 beds, and could expand to 225 in an emergency, he said.
“We’d like to operate at about 85 percent capacity. You need that remaining 15 percent for flexibility,” Seelman said.
In-patient census is steady, and surgeries and out-patient businesses are up, he said.
So far this year, Forum has made taken initiatives that will save the organization $6 million a year. The moves include reworking some vendor contracts and imposing some $2.8 million in concessions on its nonunion employees, Pishkur said.
Regarding employees, Pishkur said he believes there are avenues to take other than layoffs.
“We’re looking at multiple layers of efforts. Everyone will have an ‘ask,’” Seelman said.
alcorn@vindy.com