Novant Health to cut pay for medical secretaries

Health in Charlotte and Winston-Salem will get pay cuts early next year, system officials have confirmed. The employees were notified last week about the pay cuts as well as changes in their titles and duties. Officials with the Winston-Salem-based Novant said the changes result from implementation of electronic medical records in recent years. In the past, "the most demanding and complex part of the 'medical unit secretary' role was physician order entry," according to a hospital statement. Now those orders are entered into the electronic record automatically by the physician, and the work of the secretary has "dramatically changed," the statement said.