Microsoft Introduces AI Assistant to Combat Physician Burnout
Microsoft launched a new artificial intelligence assistant, Dragon Copilot, on Monday, March 3, that aims to lessen the burden of administrative tasks for doctors. Dragon Copilot combines advanced voice dictation and ambient listening capabilities with generative AI. The goal is to help ease physician burnout by improving workflow.
Dragon Copilot integrates Microsoft’s Dragon Medical One (DMO) speech recognition for dictating medical notes and its DAX Copilot ambient AI listening technology. DAX converts conversations between doctors and patients into clinical summaries that can be incorporated into electronic health records, according to a press release.
The consolidated AI tool is designed to streamline administrative tasks and offer faster clinical insights. These improvements are designed to reduce doctor burnout, which the American Medical Association (AMA) has identified as a major problem in healthcare.
One of the primary causes of physician burnout cited by the AMA is the lack of support staff. This forces doctors to spend time on non-patient tasks. In the first half of 2024, the burnout rate was 45%, a decrease from 56% in 2021, 53% in 2022, and 48% in 2023.
“So, things are improving, but we have work to do,” said Dr. Christine Sinsky, AMA Vice President of Professional Satisfaction.
Joe Petro, corporate vice president of health and life sciences solutions and platforms at Microsoft, believes AI offers a solution. “At Microsoft, we have long believed that AI has the incredible potential to free clinicians from much of the administrative burden in healthcare and enable them to refocus on taking care of patients,” Petro said.
Dragon Copilot Faces Competition
Microsoft’s DMO and DAX technologies stem from the company’s $16 billion acquisition of Nuance Communications, which was completed on March 4, 2022. The tech giant faces competition from other companies, including Abridge, Suki, and others. Abridge, a clinical documentation AI startup, raised $250 million in a Series D round last month. Another competitor, Suki, an AI startup that simplifies administrative tasks for clinicians, raised $70 million in its own Series D round in October.
Despite the competition, Microsoft claims Dragon Copilot offers more features than AI scribing, making it the “first unified voice AI experience to the market.”
Dragon Copilot’s features include:
- Streamlined documentation with features like multi-language note creation, automated tasks, personalized formatting, natural language dictation, speech memos, and AI prompts.
- Medical information searches from trusted sources directly within the AI assistant.
- Automation of tasks such as clinical evidence summaries and after-visit documentation.
Among organizations already using DMO and DAX technologies separately, 70% of clinicians reported reduced feelings of burnout, 62% were less likely to consider leaving their organization, and 93% of patients reported a better overall experience, according to the release.
Microsoft says it built Dragon Copilot on a secure data foundation, incorporating healthcare-specific safeguards. The platform also aligns with the company’s responsible AI principles, focusing on transparency, reliability, safety, fairness, inclusiveness, accountability, privacy and security.
Dragon Copilot will be available in the United States and Canada in May. Subsequent launches are planned for Germany, France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, with plans to enter other key markets as well.
