After weeks of uncertainty with some of Forum Health's labor unions on one side and the system's creditors and lenders on the other, CEO "Buzz" Pishkur seemed almost relieved to be able to talk about good news.
Within the past week, Forum managed to hammer out concessionary contracts with its nurses and Service Workers at Northside Medical Center, bringing the system $10-million closer to a cost-cutting goal of $30-million at that facility. Pishkur says, "We attempted to pick targets and goals that will give us some long-term viability."
Pishkur says he also met last week with Forum's creditor group to reassure them the system is making progress toward submitting a reorganization plan to the Bankruptcy Court by September 15. He says a large part of the restructuring process involves a delicate balancing act of Forum's different stakeholders, including the lenders and the unions. He admits, "We pushed it to the brink, but I think we did that for the right reasons."
Now the focus will be putting that restructuring plan together to maintain Northside, Trumbull Memorial and Hillside Hospital while still allowing for growth into local suburbs like Boardman.
At this point, Pishkur says it's still his goal to have the system out of Chapter-11 by the middle of December, just seven months after going into it.
