NHS Highland has clawed back nearly £3million of its budget shortfall.
But the board still faces a massive challenge to plug the gap by the end of March next year.
According to the latest forecast, their potential projected overspend at the end of August was £12.3million, down from £15.6million in June.
However Raigmore Hospital in Inverness has only made a slight improvement and still faces an estimated £9.9million potential overspend.
Ongoing pressures include waiting list targets and the use of locums to fill vacancies.
The north and west area also has an estimated potential£2.4million overspend because of locums, out of hours costs and the cost of adult social care.
The south and mid unit also has yet to find £1.4million of savings in adult social care.
Despite the ongoing budget issues, NHS Highland is still forecasting to break even by the end of the financial year.
Finance director Nick Kenton said: “The current position is of significant concern and immediate actions are being taken to bring this back into line.
“An additional savings target has been agreed that aims to reduce spend on supplementary staffing by 50% in the second half of the financial year – this would reduce forecast spend by over £4million and other options are being considered.
“The board is in close contact with colleagues in Scottish Government finance regarding the forecast.”