What Is Microsoft Dragon Copilot, and What Are Its Benefits?
For Microsoft, Copilot is an augmentation of knowledge workers. Copilot in Microsoft Office 365 is a tool that allows AI to augment employees’ abilities; even, in some cases, creating things that can then be cleaned up and customized. Think of Microsoft Copilot as an AI augmentation engine.
Dragon Copilot was designed specifically for healthcare and is focused on clinical documentation. The biggest burden on physicians and nurses is administrative overhead, including documentation.
Microsoft acquired Nuance in 2021. With that, they acquired Dragon, which is the industry standard for voice-to-text documentation. It transforms medically oriented speech into text that can be used for medical records and clinical notes.
The No. 1 use case for Dragon Copilot is meeting transcription. This means that the physician no longer has to turn their back and type on a keyboard when meeting a patient. They just get permission from the patient to record, then hit record on their phone, set it down and have a conversation.
LEARN MORE: Prepare your organization for Copilot for Microsoft 365 in six steps.
The entire exam, including the medical history and care plan, are recorded, allowing Dragon Copilot to generate a physician’s note. It can also generate billing codes and referral notes. It takes care of all the downstream tasks that a physician would typically have to do after an appointment. These are all teed up and ready to go at the end of the appointment, presenting a phenomenal opportunity to reduce the overhead burden for physicians.
Dragon Copilot can also assist the physician in renewing prescriptions, requesting an X-ray and finding lab reports as they go through their normal interaction with the patient. It converts that speech into text and generations automated actions. This is a powerful tool that can replace having a human assistant standing nearby taking notes or doing simple tasks.
It’s also important to note that Dragon Copilot has been deeply integrated into most electronic health records.
What Technology Do Health Systems Need to Use Dragon Copilot?
Most healthcare organizations probably already have everything they need to run Dragon Copilot. The basics include a modern electronic health record system, Microsoft 365 infrastructure and the ability to get clear audio recordings.
One of the biggest investments healthcare organizations make is their EHR. Integration into the EHR is critical for reducing manual documentation.
Being part of the Microsoft ecosystem is extremely helpful as it will improve the login and downstream activities.
Special microphones are not required, but in some cases can be helpful. Nuance developed microphones for Dragon dictation, but in working with thousands of physicians over the years, they’ve found that the microphone on a smartphone works just as well, so having a modern phone checks that box. If the practitioner is using Dragon Copilot on a desktop or laptop, having a good microphone is important.
Dragon is designed to be flexible and scalable, and much like every Microsoft product, it’s easy to use.
NEXT STEP: Request a Copilot Readiness Assessment from CDW.
Dragon Copilot Implementation Considerations for Health Systems
Using Dragon Copilot will require a change in workflow. Physicians will have to ask their patients for permission to record. They’ll also have to get comfortable with not depending on the computer as much. Rather than spending time writing notes, physicians will review the transcription for accuracy and completeness.
The IT EHR team should be ready for the integration. Again, the value of Dragon Copilot will be highest in reducing the time clinicians spend with documentation, which is mostly done in the EHR.
Consider where to start. Some data suggests that primary care physicians and family care physicians are the fastest to adopt. Starting small can determine what works best in a general physician population. A specialist might find that they’re making more corrections than a general practitioner, which can be frustrating. As time goes on, refined models will be available for specialists.
It’s also important to remember that Dragon Copilot offers many options for tailoring what happens after the visit. A physician might have a particular style and want their notes to be verbose or concise. They might want notes to be clinically oriented versus written in layman’s terms so they’re easier to consume. There are several parameters available to customize Dragon Copilot’s output. However, it can take some time to get it right, so customization is something that should be planned for.
Microsoft products meet the highest levels of security and its Responsible AI Standard. Organizations should still consider sending Dragon Copilot through their own AI and data governance committees.
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