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The Chronicle Duke Hospital cuts or reassigns 170 positions Affected employees can change jobs or be retrained By MEREDITH YOUNG The Chronicle
means,” said Michael Israel, CEO of the Hospital. “We are like a family who has had its income cut back from $50,000 a year to $35,000 a year—we have to make modifications.” The affected employees run the gamut from information desk operators to people in top-level senior administrative staff
Duke Hospital announced a 170-position cutback yesterday as part of an initiative to improve internal efficiency confront the changing national health-care environment. Although no one is being laid off, 94 employees who do not provide direct patient positions. care will have their posiMany of the jobs to which tions eliminated. people will move are curHospital officials stressed rently covered by the use of that these employees will be overtime, temporary emmoved around within the ployees or expensive conHealth System or the Unitract labor. versity to comparable jobs, Human Resources officials or have the opportunity for will work with these individunew job training. als to help them pursue their Michael Israel In addition, 76 jobs that options within the Health are not presently filled will be slashed System or the University. The cutting of these support person“This is a job elimination and a redenel positions reduces the Hospital’s ployment. This is not a layoff,” Israel workforce by 2.8 percent and saves it said. “I want to work with every affected about $7 million annually. individual to get them reestablished Decreased reimbursements from within the organization.” Medicare and managed care compaHowever, he acknowledged that the nies led directly to the decision, “The affected individuals who are higher up reality is you’ve got to live within your See CUTBACKS on page 11 �
MATT KLEIN/THE CHRONICLE
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Joseph Shabalala and Ladysmith Black Mambazo performed last night in Page Auditorium. The group is best known in the United States for singing with Paul Simon on Graceland.
Ambassador discusses China, U.S. By JOSH FEIN The Chronicle
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JOSEPH PRUEHER, U.S. ambassador to China, said yesterday that the nations now have a unique opportunity to work together. Prueher said, it can help China through its growing pains. “We can afford to act like a great nation...he said. “We have the opportunity to be a great presence in the world and we can’t squander this opportunity.” China’s major ongoing developments include an economic shift to an open-market economy, a move from the rule of an individual party to a system that proSee
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Citing the juxtaposition of skyscrapers with rice paddies and of limousines with rickshaws, U.S. Ambassador to China Joseph Prueher noted the tension between the rapidly changing Chinese economy and government and the evolving nation’s need for tempered, thoughtful growth. In a talk Wednesday morning at the Sanford Institute of Public Policy, Prueher spoke to a large crowd about China’s high-speed progress and how he thinks the United States ought to participate in it. “China is going through a time of government change and [the United States] has the opportunity to not control it, but influence it in ways that are good for both China and the US.,” he said. The newly appointed ambassador explained that turbulent relations between the United States and China, including the May bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, as well U.S. concerns over the China-Taiwan relationship, have recently hampered talks between the two nations. However, due to the tension over the this relationship, Prueher avoided taking any official stance on the issue. Prueher stressed that while easing these tensions may be difficult, China can be “a responsible global neighbor who we can work with in the future.” He noted that a productive relationship can only be built if each side understands the other’s differences. For example, he said, one of the major distinctions between the United States and China is security. Although the United States is blessed with few neighbors and secure borders, Prueher told the audience, China is far less lucky: The country is surrounded by 15 others, several ofwhich pose major security threats. Because the United States is in a stable position,
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