RENTON, Wash. [July 24, 2025] – In a Providence study published last week in the Future Healthcare Journal, physicians reported significant reductions in burnout when using DAX Copilot. Now part of Microsoft Dragon Copilot, DAX Copilot is an AI assistant that securely captures patient-physician conversations and automatically converts them into notes for delivery within Providence’s electronic health record in real-time.
Among the clinicians who were randomly assigned to use DAX Copilot, all clinician-reported measures significantly improved. Major findings include an average 2.5-hour weekly reduction in documentation burden among the clinicians who used DAX Copilot.
Other findings included a burnout decrease of 30.3%, frustration with documentation reduced by 49.5%, and self-reported time spent on documentation declined by 51.7%.
“DAX Copilot has proven to have a profound impact on our physicians by reducing administrative burdens and allowing them to spend more of their time focused on their patients,” said Maulin Shah, M.D., chief analytics and research officer at Providence. “These results are extremely encouraging considering the unprecedented levels of burnout our industry is facing nationwide. We’re witnessing a transformative shift in health care where AI-powered solutions are being implemented as a co-pilot for our clinicians to improve care and address the challenges that affect us all.”
Providence selected the 24 physicians in 2022 and 2023 based on the amount of time they spent documenting after clinic hours, as well as overall time spent in each patient EHR chart. Providence is now expanding this study to a larger group of clinicians.
“DAX Copilot is going to keep me practicing and seeing patients longer than I otherwise would have,” said Marcie Drury Brown, M.D., a Providence pediatric endocrinologist in Portland, Oregon. “It’s incredibly impactful because I don’t have to sit and type all the time — I can be fully present with my patients during their visit, which leads to a better patient experience. Not to mention it’s given myself and my family our weekends back because I don’t have to spend so many off-hours charting.”
An advisory issued by former United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy emphasized the severity of the burnout crisis, recognizing documentation processes and burdens as the primary threat to the nation’s public health infrastructure. Providence’s study highlights a new, AI-enabled approach to help streamline physician documentation.
“The implementation of DAX Copilot doesn’t just promise a decrease in burnout, it can shift the way clinicians approach their work,” said Staci Wendt, director of the Providence Health Research Accelerator who authored the study. “Our findings demonstrate the impact technology can have to help caregivers get back to what they love — which is connecting with and caring for patients.”
Today, every clinician working for the Providence family of organizations has access to this technology in their practice if they choose.
