Expedite the final sale of Forum; end months of bankruptcy angst

Forum Health’s long and agonizing journey through the complex and convoluted labyrinth of bankruptcy will soon end.

A rapid-fire succession of events over the past two weeks has paved the way for Community Health Systems Inc., one of the nation’s largest for-profit hospital corporations, to assume ownership of the financially ailing health-care network in the Mahoning Valley within months, if not weeks.

Given CHS’ many pledges and reassurances to Forum Health workers and to the Valley community that came to light only over the past week, many of our initial troubles and concerns over the sale have been eased.

We now urge Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to review and — barring any unforeseen problems — approve CHS’ $120 million purchase deal as quickly as possible. Nonetheless, we hope he still focuses on some of the questions we raised last week in this space on such issues as the specifics of CHS’ charity-care policy and more concrete outlines of its planned improvements to the Forum facilities.

Assets of the sale

All in all, however, the sale bodes well for the interests of the hospital system’s 3,700 workers and its unions, for the ongoing and viable operations of Northside, Trumbull Memorial and Hillside hospitals and for the economic livelihood of the Mahoning Valley.

Ever since Forum Health began its foray into bankruptcy protection 17 months ago, many of Forum’s employees have been biting their nails, worried over the precarious future of their employer and their very jobs. Last week, CHS allayed many of those fears.

Most importantly, the Ohio Nurses Association/Youngstown General Duty Nurses withdrew its objection — the one and only objection filed in court — hours before Judge Kay Woods approved the sale last week. The dispute ended when CHS pledged to hire all current workers.

For the hospital system itself, the deal holds promise. The sale price is enough to fully cover secured claims of $85 million and administrative expenses. The deal also reportedly protects about $21 million in community contributions to foundations at Trumbull Memorial and Northside Medical Center to be used for gifts, grants and other charitable projects.

ECONOMIES OF SCALE

With its 120-hospital network, CHS also is poised to more efficiently handle its finances through the benefits of economies of scale.All of which should bring the Valley hospital network back into the black and enable it to focus on sustained operations, quality health care and growth.

Toward that end, CHS has pledged to infuse $80 million in improvements, to continue to participate in Forum’s Medicare and Medicaid programs and to provide a charity-care policy.

Finally, the community wins big in the sale. Not only does it guarantee maximum choices and competitiveness in our Valley’s health-care market, it also protects thousands of jobs and ensures millions of dollars in valuable tax revenue will continue to flow into the strained coffers of local governments. Closure of Northside Medical Center, for example, would have been catastrophic to Youngstown city government operations.

To be sure, all of these benefits likely will not come without some degree of pain. In the short term, CHS faces potentially difficult contract negotiations this year with some of its unions. In the long term, efficiencies that may be sought by CHS could result in the loss of some jobs.

On balance, however, the sale to Community Health Systems ushers in an exciting and overwhelmingly positive new era for health care in the Valley. As such, Cordray should expeditiously advance the proposal to finalize the deal and end the 17-month agony of Forum’s bankruptcy.