WakeMed eliminating positions

About a third of those affected will have an opportunity to shift to another assignment within the WakeMed system, Bill Atkinson, president and chief executive officer, said. Three-quarters of the positions being eliminated are management positions, a spokeswoman said. No staff nurse is being displaced.

Those affected will be notified during the month of September. Severance packages will be offered  on a case-by-case basis.

The medical system, which employs about 7,576 people at its facilities in Wake and Johnston counties, had a weak first six months in fiscal year 2009 but ended with in a sound financial position, Atkinson said.

"This year is different in that we have little opportunity, if any, to extract more savings through expense reductions," he said. "Most of those opportunities we seized in fiscal year 2009."

Atkinson said the hospital system is expecting $35 million less in federal state and reimbursement in the new fiscal year. Some of the losses were offset by additional cuts to departmental budgets and curtailing spending in marketing and advertising.

"Some of the offset, however, inevitably, must come from the steps we are taking today to slightly reduce our work force numbers," Atkinson said.