MUSC Health reduces after-hours documentation time 20% with DAX Copilot ambient AI

Clinician burnout at MUSC Health was driven in part by excessive administrative burden, particularly time spent entering notes into the electronic medical record outside of working hours. Providers needed to take active notes during patient appointments, reducing engagement with patients and adding to after-hours workload.

MUSC Health piloted Nuance Dragon Ambient eXperience (DAX) Copilot, which uses conversational and generative AI to automatically draft clinician visit summaries for immediate review in the EMR. The tool was deployed across 130 providers in 12 specialties, and MUSC Emergency Medicine physicians co-developed an ED-specific version with Microsoft/Nuance, making MUSC one of the first health systems to bring the technology to the emergency room.

Providers who used DAX Copilot for five months reported a 20% decrease in time spent outside of work entering chart details. Patients also reported higher satisfaction scores among providers utilizing the tool. MUSC was recognized as an early co-development partner for the ED module.

• Ambient AI that removes real-time note-taking can meaningfully reduce after-hours administrative burden and improve clinician wellbeing.
• Co-development partnerships with vendors (Microsoft/Nuance) allow health systems to adapt tools for specialized settings like the ED faster.
• Patient satisfaction improvements alongside clinician efficiency gains suggest dual benefit from reduced documentation interruptions during visits.