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Forum board: Bids were received
The trustees did not reveal who bid or how many bids the health system got.
YOUNGSTOWN — Forum Health trustees confirmed that they received bids for health-system assets by the Nov. 13 deadline established by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
In a statement Wednesday, however, the trustee board did not reveal who bid or how many bids were received nor if they were for parts or all of Forum.
“The Forum statement doesn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know,” said Eric Williams, president of the Ohio Nurses Association’s Youngstown General Duty Nurses Association.
The important issues, said Williams, whose union represents between 450 and 500 registered nurses at Northside Medical Center, are how much are the bids, what are the terms of the bids, and are they for all or pieces of Forum Health.
Forum’s other properties are Trumbull Memorial Hospital in Warren and Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital in Howland.
The evaluation phase is now under way and is targeted to be concluded by Nov. 30, said Vince Bevacqua, Forum spokesman.
In the meantime, he said confidential negotiations will be conducted with the bidders in an effort to clarify all the terms of the bids in order to provide the Forum board with a good comparison of the bids with its reorganization plan and identify the best possible outcome.
The eventual decision by the trustees will be publicly disclosed when it is submitted for review by Judge Kay Woods of U.S. Bankruptcy Court, he said.
“At that time, the trustees will present the basis for their decision and there will be an opportunity for parties in the case to express their views,” Bevacqua said.
Until that time, based on the advice of legal counsel, Forum Health believes it would be inappropriate to pre-empt the court-approved process, he added.
Earlier in the week, state Rep. Robert F. Hagan of Youngstown, D-60th, in a letter to Phillip B. Dennison, Forum board chairman, asked the board to “strongly consider publicizing all bids, and their respective interested parties, regarding potential outside investment in our community and the health-care systems of the Mahoning Valley.”
Hagan also asked for contact information for all Forum trustees.
“It is exceedingly difficult to access the people making decisions in this process. I know this is frustrating to the community as there has been very little public transparency in the current process,” Hagan said.
Forum employs 3,500 to 4,000 people in Mahoning and Trumbull counties.
Forum filed in March for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.
alcorn@vindy.com