For the last several years, Forum Health has been in critical condition with managers watching its vital signs closely. Wednesday, officials say Forum Health has been upgraded to stable condition.
"There is going to be an operating loss again in 2008 at Northside, but I am pleased to be working with the staff on a plan for 2009 that is going to bring that facility into an operating margin that doesn't have brackets around it," said Walter Pishkur, Forum CEO. Pishkur stressed that new labor agreements with all the unions at Forum, have helped the financial situation improve.
Forum hired Robert Wolleben to serve as second in command. He will be Executive Vice President of Forum Health and Chief Operating Officer of Trumbull Memorial Hospital.
Michael Seelman, the interim Chief Operating Officer at TMH, will now serve as Chief Operating Officer at Northside Medical Center.
"I think we got all people, all leaders, on the same side pulling in the same direction will make the system work," Seelman said.
Pishkur says he is hoping not to make any layoffs this year and instead, he wants to improve the hospitals finances by getting more patients, which is something the management team is working on right now. "We are recruiting new physicians so people here don't have to leave town," Wolleben said.
