UPDATE: Pishkur out as Forum CEO; no termination plan for Northside

Forum Health and its creditors have agreed to work together on an operating plan for the hospital system, but it will not include Walter “Buzz” Pishkur as president and chief executive.

Pishkur resigned from the posts today and immediately became a consultant for the system, which is in bankruptcy. An interim CEO is to be named.

Forum made the announcements today at a news conference near Pishkur’s office in Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital in Howland.

Forum’s lenders asked that Pishkur step down, said Vince Bevacqua, a spokesman for Forum.

Also in the agreement, the creditors agreed not to push for Forum to enact a termination plan, which would have brought about the sale or closure of Northside Medical Center in Youngstown. Instead, the two sides agreed to work on a reorganization plan.

Bevacqua declined to discuss the likelihood of Forum retaining Northside, Hillside and Trumbull Memorial Hospital in Warren.

“How this system will look is still in the planning stages. No one can say how this system will look in six months,” Bevacqua said.

For more details, see Tuesday’s Vindicator or www.vindy.com.