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Forum Health to cut 125 jobs
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
YOUNGSTOWN
Forum Health plans to reduce its staff by 125 positions systemwide over the next few months.
Affected employees will be notified individually, beginning immediately, according to Forum’s statement released Friday afternoon.
The staff cuts will be achieved through attrition, job restructuring and layoffs, Forum said.
Forum employs a combined 3,500 at Northside Medical Center in Youngstown, Trumbull Memorial Hospital in Warren, and Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital in Howland.
Union leaders said they have heard Hillside will not be affected by the cuts but have not been told how or when the reductions will be implemented at other facilities.
Forum said the job reductions — primarily in non-patient care — are not related to the health-care system’s bankruptcy process.
Instead Forum said, they are needed to “maintain a competitive position in the marketplace in the face of economic pressures impacting hospitals and health- care providers both locally and across the country.”
Thomas Connelly, head of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2026, which represents nurses at TMH, believes differently.
“Were Forum not paying out millions of dollars in consultant fees related to the bankruptcy, these job reductions would not be economically necessary,” he said.
Union leaders, informed of the pending job cuts Wednesday, say they have heard that the 125 number refers to full-time equivalencies, which means it could affect more than 125 individuals. Union leaders want to meet with Forum officials early next week to get more details.
“Obviously, we are disappointed to learn that staff reductions are imminent at Forum Health,” said U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th.
According to Forum Health, the loss of up to 125 positions is the result of downward trends in patient volumes, lower reimbursement levels, and the effects of the state hospital franchise tax on not-for-profit hospitals, Ryan said.
Ryan said his office will continue to work with Forum to emerge from bankruptcy, help it reach financial stability and increase its role in the health-care marketplace.
Forum filed March 16, 2009, for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.