Microsoft Corp. has launched Dragon Copilot, an advanced AI assistant aimed at transforming clinical workflows by combining the dictation capabilities of Dragon Medical One with the ambient listening features of Dragon Ambient eXperience, enhanced by generative AI and healthcare-specific safeguards.
AI tool to reduce clinician burnout
Dragon Copilot is designed to streamline administrative tasks and enhance patient care within various healthcare settings as part of Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare. The introduction of this solution comes as technological advancements have led to a decline in clinician burnout in the U.S., which decreased from 53 percent in 2023 to 48 percent in 2024. Nevertheless, challenges persist due to an aging population and workforce shortages, prompting healthcare systems to adopt AI tools like Dragon Copilot to automate documentation and accelerate clinical insights.
The tool integrates the speech capabilities of Dragon Medical One, which has been pivotal in documenting billions of patient records, with the ambient AI technology of Dragon Ambient eXperience (DAX), which processed over three million patient conversations within the past month. Users have reported saving five minutes per patient encounter, with 70 percent of clinicians experiencing less burnout and 93 percent of patients noting enhanced experiences.
Key features of Dragon Copilot include automated documentation, medical information retrieval, and task automation. It will be available in the U.S. and Canada starting in May, followed by launches in the U.K., Germany, France, and the Netherlands. Microsoft intends to expand the reach of Dragon Copilot to additional key markets, emphasizing its commitment to improving the efficiency of healthcare professionals and patient outcomes through AI innovation.
Microsoft’s new voice-activated AI assistant allows healthcare workers to quickly access medical information and automatically draft clinical notes, referral letters, and post-visit summaries. Clinicians currently spend approximately 28 hours a week on administrative tasks such as documentation, according to an October study by Google Cloud. Dr. David Rhew, Microsoft’s global chief medical officer, remarked, “Through this technology, clinicians will have the ability to focus on the patient rather than the computer, and this is going to lead to better outcomes and ultimately better health care for all.”
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Following Microsoft’s acquisition of Nuance Communications for $16 billion in 2021, the company has established itself as a significant player in the AI scribing market, which has gained traction among healthcare organizations aiming to alleviate clinician burnout. DAX Copilot has been utilized in over three million patient visits across 600 healthcare organizations in the previous month.
Dragon Copilot is accessible via a mobile app, browser, or desktop, and it integrates with multiple electronic health records. Clinicians can draft clinical notes using natural language, allowing for specific queries such as, “Was the patient experiencing ear pain?” or “Can you add the ICD-10 codes to the assessment and plan?” They can also pose broader treatment-related questions like, “Should this patient be screened for lung cancer?” along with receiving links to authoritative resources like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
WellSpan Health, which operates across 250 locations and nine hospitals in central Pennsylvania and northern Maryland, has been testing Dragon Copilot among a group of clinicians. Dr. David Gasperack, chief medical officer of primary care services at WellSpan, noted that the assistant is easy to use and has proven more accurate than previous Microsoft products. He stated, “We’ve been asked more and more over time to do more administrative tasks that pull us away from the patient relationship and medical decision making. This allows us to get back to that so we can focus on the patient, truly think about what’s needed.”
While Microsoft has not disclosed the cost of Dragon Copilot, it mentioned that the pricing structure is competitive and that upgrading will be straightforward for existing customers. Analysts currently have a Strong Buy consensus rating on MSFT stock. After a 3.96% decline in share price over the past year, the average price target of $508.96 per share suggests a potential upside of 28.95%.
Featured image credit: Microsoft
