Attorney general represents public interest in hospital sale

Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray sent a clear message Monday to anyone that might have an interest in buying Forum Health: His office intends to fulfill its legal obligation to protect the interest of the state when assets of a charitable institution are at stake.

Cordray’s office is required to review a proposed sale of a nonprofit health care entity, and U.S. bankruptcy law requires that the sale of assets conform to state law.

That gives Mahoning Valley residents an advocate for their interest in Forum, an interest that stretches back for more than a century during which the assets that are now known as Northside Medical Center in Youngstown, Trumbull Memorial Hospital in Warren and Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital in Howland were developed.

During a press conference at the attorney general’s Youngstown office, Cordray said that so far he has received the information that is necessary for his office to conduct a proper pre-sale review from only one bidder, Ardent Health Services of Nashville, Tenn. A review takes 60 to 90 days and the attorney general filed an interim status report with the Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division, Monday that said the state’s review of Ardent’s proposal will be completed in advance of an Aug. 5 date that Judge Kay Woods has set for an auction.

Ardent has offered $69.8 million for Forum, has pledged to preserve Forum’s three primary Mahoning Valley assets and has said it will invest more than $50 million here. In addition, Ardent has reached agreement with the unions representing thousands of Forum employees in Youngstown and Warren and has pledged to maintain boards of trustees for the three hospitals that will include community representatives for five years.

It appears to be a proposal that not only offers Forum’s creditors an opportunity to recover a major portion of their investment, but also preserves a level of health care competition in the Mahoning Valley.

Expensive proposition

This bankruptcy procedure has dragged on for more than 16 months, requiring the expenditure of millions of dollars for legal fees and consultants that would be better spent doing the work that hospitals are supposed to do.

A nationwide search for a Forum buyer was launched a full year ago. Any serious contender had more than ample time to become part of the process, a process that includes submitting a proposal to the attorney general’s office.

Judge Woods should consider that as the sale process approaches its conclusion.

It is unfortunate that Forum was forced into bankruptcy — we continue to believe prematurely — but it is time for the process to be concluded in a way that recognizes the claims of all the stakeholders, including the people of the Valley, as represented by the state of Ohio.

No one is going to be completely satisfied — not the banks, not the employees and not the public. But it is time to move forward.