WellSpan Health

WellSpan Health physicians faced heavy administrative documentation burdens that required typing notes during patient visits, reducing face-to-face engagement and contributing to physician burnout. Clinicians were splitting attention between patients and EHR data entry during both in-person and telehealth encounters, degrading the quality of patient-physician interactions and work-life balance.

WellSpan deployed Nuance DAX Copilot — an ambient AI solution embedded natively within Epic — that uses conversational, ambient, and generative AI to automatically draft clinical summaries of exam room and telehealth conversations in seconds. Building on an initial DAX deployment in 2020, DAX Copilot eliminates real-time note-taking so physicians can give patients their full attention. The solution drafts notes immediately after the encounter for physician review and EHR entry.

A WellSpan satisfaction survey found that 94% of physicians reported improved quality of patient-physician interactions and 85% said reduced documentation workloads helped them achieve better work-life balance. Among patients, 97% reported that physicians using DAX were more focused, personable, and engaged, while 88% were extremely satisfied with their visits compared to before DAX. WellSpan was also recognized in the top 5% of U.S. hospitals for patient experience in 2023 by Press Ganey.

• Ambient AI documentation that runs passively during visits eliminates the EHR distraction trade-off without requiring workflow changes from physicians.
• Patient experience scores are a measurable downstream indicator of documentation AI success — not just a physician productivity metric.
• A phased deployment strategy (DAX classic in 2020, then DAX Copilot) built clinician trust and institutional familiarity before the generative AI upgrade.