Clinicians and patients at Vanderbilt University Medical Center are praising an artificial intelligence (AI) program that streamlines documentation of patient encounters in the ambulatory clinics and emergency departments.
The program, called DAX Copilot, relieves clinicians from having to enter data into the electronic health record (EHR) during patient visits and enables them to focus more fully on the patient. This makes it a “win” for both parties, a survey conducted recently by Vanderbilt HealthIT suggests.
“Being fully present is what (clinicians) really want to do,” said Cecelia Theobald, MD, MPH, Chief of Staff for Corporate Clinical Affairs and Senior Vice President for Clinical Affairs at VUMC.
The Microsoft-developed technology is an AI-powered, voice-enabled, ambient “scribe” that records and generates clinical notes from the patient encounter. “It’s the ear in the room,” said Dara Mize, MD, MS, VUMC’s Chief Medical Information Officer.
Unlike other programs, DAX Copilot can be implemented without a lot of special expertise or dedicated staff time. “It’s unique to find a health care technology that solves an important problem and is so easy for clinicians to use,” Mize said.
What began as a pilot project was expanded this year to include all faculty, house staff physicians, advanced practice providers and other health professionals in the ambulatory clinics and ED settings.
The DAX Copilot team plans to offer the program to inpatient clinicians as early as this fall and is working with Microsoft to expand the technology to inpatient nursing staff.
Electronic health records “are inherently difficult to use,” explained Mize, assistant professor of Biomedical Informatics and Medicine. Previous high-tech solutions attempted at VUMC did little to improve efficiency, but “this single technology really moved the needle quite a bit,” she said.
From the recorded conversation between clinician and patient, DAX Copilot generates a summary that is like a history the clinician might prepare manually. The notes are immediately available for clinician review and editing, and ready for integration directly into VUMC’s EHR system.
Approximately 100 clinicians piloted the program. Currently, there are about 1,300 active users, including physicians, advanced practice providers, dietitians, physical therapists, occupational therapists and other front-line providers in the clinics and ED.
“The pilot data were so positive, … we chose the ‘big-bang’ approach — we went live with everybody all at once,” said Theobald, associate professor and former vice chair for Clinical Affairs in the Department of Medicine. “We’re definitely on the leading edge of adopting this at big scale.”
A close working relationship with the Microsoft developers has helped. “We give feedback constantly about upgrades and things that we need, and they achieve that really well,” she said. “We’re able to get the product modified … in a really short time frame.”
Initially adopted to prevent “burnout” among clinicians, it soon became clear that DAX Copilot also helped improve efficiency. Once their documentation burden was lifted, clinicians were able to see an additional patient every day on average, Mize said.
While increasing efficiency and volume was not a goal of the program, it certainly justified the significant investment in licensing fees required to bring the technology to VUMC, Theobald added.
Surveys conducted in 2025 after DAX Copilot adoption showed a significant increase in the proportion of faculty physicians who felt they had sufficient time for documentation and reported that EHR “does not add to my frustration.” Experience scores reported by patients also improved after their clinicians began using the program.
Of the 226 providers who completed surveys over the past year, 78% said the program improved the quality of documentation; 74% reported an improvement in their patients’ experience; and 56% indicated that they were now “less likely to leave” VUMC for a position elsewhere.
Users also submitted unsolicited benefits with their responses. “Seeing my Spanish-speaking patients is so much easier,” wrote one. “It was very difficult for me to speak in Spanish and type in English. Now I don’t have to.”
DAX Copilot handles the translation in real time.
