A specialty-specific approach with Microsoft Dragon Copilot

Marjorie_Veihl

Microsoft

Apr 17, 2025

Reducing specialists’ documentation burden with enhanced specialty specific clinical notes.

Clinicians are at the heart of patient care, and the documentation they create shapes how that care is delivered, interpreted, and continued. Nearly 70% of the global medical workforce—around 9 million practitioners, according to recent World Health Organization data—are specialists whose work spans a wide range of disciplines and care settings. As these specialties evolve, so do their documentation needs to ensure the highest quality and accurate care.

Each specialty brings its own documentation requirements. Orthopedics relies heavily on imaging reports, physical exam findings, and procedural notes. Preventive Medicine, on the other hand, focuses on understanding the breadth of the patient’s conditions and proactive measures to promote health. Across care settings—from outpatient clinics to emergency departments to inpatient units—documentation also varies in its requirements.

Accurate, specialty-specific documentation supports not only improved patient outcomes but also the broader healthcare ecosystem—from ensuring appropriate reimbursement to enabling clinical research and the development of more targeted treatments. When designed to meet the needs of specialists, documentation becomes more than a requirement—it becomes a tool for delivering better care.

Purpose-built with clinicians

Microsoft Dragon Copilot enhances the clinician experience by streamlining the creation of medical notes tailored to each specialty’s unique requirements. Powered by advanced natural language processing, Dragon Copilot recognizes and adapts to the specific needs of disparate medical fields. This enables clinicians to focus more on patient care and less on administrative work, enhancing both efficiency and satisfaction.

Built for continuous learning and adaptation, Dragon Copilot helps specialists keep pace with the evolving clinical guidelines, medical standards, and billing requirements with Microsoft’s dedicated team of medical professionals including MD’s (Doctor of Medicine), RN’s (Registered Nurse), and APP’s (Advanced Practice Provider). In a field shaped by constant change, this agility helps to ensure documentation stays accurate and relevant. At the core of this innovation is Microsoft’s deep, daily engagement with clinicians using Dragon Copilot.

Through a diverse network—physicians, advanced care practitioners, coders, and other healthcare professionals—Microsoft works directly with those on the front line of care. This network, and other early access participants, work alongside Microsoft’s in-house clinical experts and researchers to co-design, test, and refine Dragon Copilot.

This close partnership brings real-world insight into the development process, helping us ensure Dragon Copilot aligns with the practical, specialty-specific needs of medical professionals. By embedding clinical knowledge and clinician feedback into each iteration, we deliver a solution that is not only clinically accurate but also intuitive and trusted.

This is about more than building a better product experience—it is about fostering trust and ownership among clinicians with technology that fits naturally into their everyday practice, supports their expertise, and helps them deliver the highest quality care.

The power of a specialty-optimized approach

Dragon Copilot is built on a trusted core medical model, fine-tuned on millions of real-world patient encounters. From this core medical foundation, the model is then adapted and optimized for each specialty—integrating clinical experts’ knowledge and research, national association recommendations, and feedback from clinicians. This layered approach supports outputs that are not only medically accurate but also aligned with the documentation standards and workflows clinicians depend on in their daily practice. The system evolves with changes in clinical guidelines and inputs from practicing specialists. This iterative process keeps Dragon Copilot current, relevant, and reflective of both specialty-specific requirements and real-world practice.

By aligning note content with specialty-specific standards, Dragon Copilot helps reduce cognitive load, minimize documentation errors, and shorten the time needed to complete and sign notes. The result is a more efficient workflow that enhances both the quality of care and patient data processing.

“By teaming up with specialty providers, Microsoft has elevated the quality and accuracy of notes—making my documentation clearer, more robust yet concise, and significantly improving readability for both patients and fellow providers. Additionally, this update also greatly improved the capture of physical exam findings.” Eric Alford, M.D. Baylor Scott & White Health

Consider ophthalmology: clinical guidelines in this specialty require documentation of complex decision-making—such as discussing lens implant options in a way that balances clinical appropriateness with individual patient preferences. Dragon Copilot helps to capture both, generating documentation that is structured and personalized to each unique patient encounter.

Or take psychiatry: the mental status exam is a crucial component of the evaluation for informed decisions about the patient's treatment. Dragon Copilot supports by capturing this comprehensive assessment essential for tracking the patient's progress over time.

Customization that reflects the art of medicine

Specialty-specific notes are only part of the solution—clinician satisfaction and adoption rely on meaningful customization. Documentation is personal, and no two clinicians document the same way. Microsoft Dragon Copilot is designed with that in mind, offering customizable templates and flexible styles that align with individual preferences and workflows.

“I think the potential of Dragon Copilot is going to be even greater as we start to bring in local vernacular, and the ability to help each doctor tune their note to their appropriate desires because one person's note that is too brief is another one that's too long for someone else”- R. Hal Baker, MD, SVP and CIO, Wellspan Health

This level of personalization preserves each clinician’s unique voice while enhancing the accuracy, completeness, and efficiency of documentation. By bridging standardized requirements with specialty-specific content and individual style, Dragon Copilot supports a more seamless and effective documentation experience. Tailoring technology to meet the diverse needs of clinicians not only enhances satisfaction and adoption but contributes to better care delivery across the healthcare system.

Trustworthy AI by design

Microsoft Dragon Copilot is built on a secure data estate and incorporates healthcare-adapted clinical, chat and compliance safeguards for accurate and safe AI outputs. Dragon Copilot also aligns to Microsoft’s responsible AI principles to help guide AI development and use — transparency, reliability and safety, fairness, inclusiveness, accountability, privacy, and security.

We invest in technical performance through regular assessments, building trust with medical professionals. This process looks for potential biases and errors, enabling timely corrections and continuous improvements across specialties. With a strong focus on inclusiveness, Dragon Copilot supports a wide range of medical practices and specialties, reflecting the diverse needs of clinicians and patients.

By upholding these principles, Microsoft drives innovation while helping to safeguard the interests of both patients and healthcare providers. These commitments set a high standard for trustworthy AI in healthcare.

Looking ahead

Clinical documentation should tell the complete story of a patient’s care—clearly and comprehensively—for the stakeholders involved. We are excited to keep innovating around specialty-specific clinical documentation and beyond—and we want you to be part of it. Your feedback fuels our progress. Together, we can improve clinician well-being and keep the focus where it belongs: on patient care.