Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center announced this morning that it will eliminate 950 positions by June 30 of next year.

About half the reductions will be achieved by eliminating vacant positions, attrition, retirements as well as by eliminating temporary and contract worker jobs.

About 475 of the 950 positions are currently filled with full-time employees. Those employees account for about 3.5 percent of Wake Forest Baptist's total workforce.

The Winston-Salem medical center laid off 76 workers this week.

The state's largest health insurer is expanding its on-site hospital billing service to the Duke University Health System.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina started posting employees on location at Raleigh-based WakeMed in 2009 to work with physicians and billing departments. The goal to resolve claims questions faster and more efficiently.

The insurer previously expanded the program to the UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill and is in discussions about doing it at other hospitals. Adding Duke gives Blue Cross partnerships with the Triangle's three biggest hospital systems.

One doctor's call for a conscience check when it comes to health-care reform:

Nearly 20 more letters on health-care reform:

Another round of more than 20 health-care reform letters. Look for others on tomorrow's Other Opinion page and on Sunday in Sunday Forum.

We were overrun with letters about the health care protests in Raleigh over the weekend. Here are nearly 20, online-only. Look for others on the Other Opinion page tomorrow, for starters.

We've been overrun with letters over the past few weeks covering just about all of the bases on health care reform. We have several antagonists we can choose among: insurance companies, Big Pharma, President Obama and Democrats, on and on. Some of these letters still might show up in the paper over the weekend.