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Forum’s future unfolds today
New owner could be named after auction
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
YOUNGSTOWN
The new owner-elect of bankrupt Forum Health may be named soon after today’s auction of Forum’s assets concludes in Cleveland.
A Forum Health spokesman said the company may have a state- ment after the auction, conducted in the Cleveland offices of the law firm of McDonald Hopkins, one of Forum’s legal advisers.
Two for-profit Tennessee-based health-care companies submitted bids for Forum Health and were eligible to participate in the auction.
Ardent Health Services offered $69.8 million, and Community Health Systems’ bid was $100 million.
Both bidders promised to spend millions of dollars — Ardent $50 million to $70 million and CHS $80 million — to upgrade facilities and equipment.
They also said they would keep open Forum’s three hospitals — Northside Medical Center in Youngstown, Trumbull Memorial Hospital in Warren and Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital in Howland — and offer Forum employees their jobs.
The sale of nonprofit health-care companies to for-profit firms is a growing trend in Ohio.
This year alone, six Ohio nonprofit hospitals, including Forum, have gone on the market, and all have received bids from for-profit companies, according to the Ohio Hospital Association.
Whichever bidder is chosen by Forum as its new owner, a number of steps remain before the sale is finalized by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
First, if CHS is the winner, its proposal will have to be reviewed by Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to determine if it is in the public’s best interest, a process which could take several weeks. Cordray previously reviewed and approved Ardent’s proposal, which was submitted in mid-June.
The need for an attorney general’s review of the CHS offer, should it be the winner, however, will not delay a sale hearing scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Aug. 10, court officials said.
At that hearing, Judge Kay Woods is expected to determine if the parties have adhered to bankruptcy law and the sale and bidding procedures established by the court in June.
She also will likely resolve pending objections or new objections to the sale, which must be filed by 8 a.m. Aug. 9.