What's new in Microsoft Dragon Copilot 3.5

The latest release of Dragon Copilot includes enhancements that broaden device access, strengthen clinical accuracy, and streamline documentation workflows for clinicians and nurses. From updated setting options to richer customizable template capabilities and new nursing workflows, this update focuses on empowering care teams with greater flexibility, consistency, and control. Many features are available automatically, while others offer optional configuration to help organizations tailor Dragon Copilot to their unique clinical environments. Read more about each feature below.

With the nursing experience now generally available in Dragon Copilot, the communications reflect this broader scope. Each feature clearly indicates the relevant clinical experience, whether it applies to physicians/clinicians, nurses, or both. This approach ensures greater clarity and helps teams quickly identify updates most applicable to their workflows.

Feature details - action required

This section highlights capabilities that might need your organization's active participation to unlock their full value. Engage proactively to maximize benefits for your team and customers.

Orders - admin setting

  • Description: The Orders setting in Dragon admin center or the Nuance Command Center is now disabled by default. This change doesn't affect existing users' configurations.

  • Relevant version: Dragon Copilot (web, desktop, mobile, embedded), Dragon Copilot for Epic

  • Relevant experience: Clinician/physician

  • Regions: US, CA, and UK

  • Action required: An administrator must enable the setting for new users if they want to use the orders feature.

Customizable templates – enhanced capabilities

  • Description: Customizable templates now offer expanded functionalities for all organizations and users, improving the documentation. Key enhancements include:

    • Combined processing: Use the note and the transcript together for richer, more complete documentation.

    • Flexible options: Select from the following processing modes per template:

      • Note + transcript

      • Note only

      • Transcript only

    • Improved output quality: Achieve better results, including:

      • Incorporate verbatim transcript statements directly into notes.

      • Reuse patient information in multiple sections, not just the HPI.

      • Capture more details about risks in the Assessment and Plan.

    • Easy adoption: Users can access intuitive, self-guided eLearning materials to quickly learn and optimize these capabilities:

  • Relevant versions: Dragon Copilot (web, desktop, mobile), DAX Copilot for DMO, DAX Copilot for Epic

  • Relevant experience: Clinician/physician

  • Regions: All

  • Action required: Microsoft-provisioned customers can use Dragon admin center to enable the new transcript‑aware customizable templates feature:

    1. Open Dragon admin center.
    2. In the Dragon Copilot section of the navigation pane, select Physicians.
    3. Select Settings.
    4. Select Change view and then select the relevant organizational unit.
    5. In the Generative AI section, select Transcript‑aware customizable templates.
    6. Enable the lock toggle switch to ensure that this setting can't be changed at the user level or lower levels of the hierarchy.

Complete multiple actions with one prompt

  • Description: Use advanced, multi-intent prompts in the Dragon Copilot chat to accomplish several tasks in a single interaction: combining Dragon Copilot's documentation and information assistance capabilities. This approach improves efficiency as users instigate multiple tasks maintaining shared clinical context. For example:

    • Capture codes while accessing supporting information from trusted sources.

    • Generate patient instruction letters using external clinical guidelines.

    • Update clinical notes and capture codes simultaneously.

    • See: Use compound prompts in Dragon Copilot

  • Relevant versions: Dragon Copilot (web, desktop, mobile)

  • Relevant experience: Clinician/physician

  • Region: US

  • Action required:

    • Nuance provisioned customers - this feature is off by default. To enable it, contact your Microsoft Customer Success Manager or submit a support ticket. We plan to turn this feature on by default for all organizations in the future and will announce this when it's finalized.

    • Microsoft provisioned customers - this feature is on by default. Administrators can turn it off in Dragon admin center: Settings > Generative AI > Multi-intent prompts.

Expanded workflow capabilities

  • Description: Users have more flexibility and control when creating workflows:

    • Enhanced keyboard shortcuts: Users can now include additional keyboard keys, such as Enter and Shift, when creating workflow steps by using the Keyboard shortcut action. This enhancement supports legacy Dragon Medical One behavior and brings broader support for desktop hotkeys.

    • Additional voice commands: Add new voice commands as workflow steps, including anchor dictation, release dictation, and show anchored app.

    • See: Press keys shortcuts for Dragon Copilot Workflows

  • Relevant versions: Dragon Copilot (desktop)

  • Relevant experience: Clinician/physician

  • Regions: All

  • Action required: Available to all users by default. Customers using custom workflows should confirm that key‑press steps function as expected after updating to the latest version.

Lines, Drains, and Airways (LDAs) - additions and removals

  • Description: Nurses can now seamlessly add new LDAs or remove existing LDAs while documenting patient care, on top of the existing ability to complete LDA assessments. This workflow is fully integrated end‑to‑end with Epic Rover and Epic Hyperspace.

    To ensure accuracy, users must clearly verbalize the patient's gender when relevant to document LDA placement or removal.

    See:

  • Relevant versions: Dragon Copilot (embedded)

  • Relevant experience: Nursing

  • Region: US

  • Action required: To enable this feature, customers must have the required Epic SU and feature license activated in each applicable environment. Contact your Epic representative for configuration. Contact your Microsoft representative to request activation in your production environment based on your organization's timelines. Updated User Acceptance Testing (UAT) documentation is available, including recommended test cases and validation steps to support deployment.

Verify EHR user linking

  • Description: This feature adds an extra layer of security by ensuring that each Dragon Copilot (nurses) user connects to the correct EHR identity. When you enable this feature in Dragon admin center, users complete a simple one‑time sign in to their EHR account from within Dragon Copilot. Dragon Copilot then compares the user's authenticated EHR identity with the mapping that the administrator configures.

    • If the identities match: The user can access only their own EHR originated sessions.

    • If they don't match: The user receives a notification prompting them to contact their administrator.

    This safeguard reduces the risk of exposing sensitive clinical data to the wrong user and ensures Dragon Copilot is always connected to the correct clinical identity.

    See: Menus in Dragon Copilot web/desktop experience for nurses

  • Relevant versions: Dragon Copilot (web, desktop)

  • Relevant experience: Nursing

  • Region: US

  • Action required: To enable this feature:

    1. Open Dragon admin center and provision Dragon Copilot (nursing). See: Provision Dragon Copilot
    2. Add users. See: EHR management
    3. In the Dragon Copilot section of the navigation pane, select Nurses.
    4. Select Settings.
    5. In the Notifications section, select Verify EHR linking.

    Each user completes a one‑time sign in to their EHR account to verify their identity. Updated user acceptance testing documentation is available to guide customers through recommended testing and validation before deployment.

Feature details - no action required

This section highlights features for your awareness. You automatically benefit from these updates; no action or participation is required to access their full value.

Dragon Medical One formatting options

  • Description: Dragon Copilot now offers the same formatting preferences that clinicians use in Dragon Medical One, so you get a smooth and consistent transition. These settings include dictation style, punctuation rules, section formatting, and more.

    • Dragon Copilot automatically applies each clinician's existing Dragon Medical One formatting configurations.

    • A future release will enable clinicians to view and customize these formatting options directly within Dragon Copilot.

  • Relevant versions: Dragon Copilot (web, desktop, embedded)

  • Relevant experience: Clinician/physician

  • Regions: All

  • Action required: No action required.

Expanded full text control support

  • Description: Dragon Copilot desktop now supports full text control in more apps and EHRs. These apps include Allscripts, Altera, Cerner, i.s.h.med (with Dragon Medical One parity), and Softway. By using full text control, Dragon Copilot can fully interact with the text fields in these systems. You get advanced editing, precise text selection, navigation commands, and richer dictation workflows that match the Dragon Medical One experience. You can work efficiently and consistently across more of your daily tools.

  • Relevant version: Dragon Copilot (desktop)

  • Relevant experience: Clinician/physician

  • Regions: All

  • Action required: No action required.

Versioning and show ambient popovers - admin settings removed

  • Description: This release includes updates to settings in the Nuance Command Center and Dragon admin center that affect the Dragon Copilot first run experience. This change includes removal of the versioning popover and show ambient popover settings, as their functionality is now handled by the replay tour setting.

  • Relevant versions: Dragon Copilot (web, desktop, mobile, embedded)

  • Relevant experience: Clinician/physician

  • Regions: All

  • Action required: No action required.

Prompt field – safe web search

  • Description: Safe web search is enabled by default. In the Dragon Copilot prompt field, it allows users to access relevant information from web sources directly within the app while maintaining strict clinical safeguards. This feature uses encounter context to deliver accurate results and ensures safety and transparency throughout the process. Key benefits:

    • Complete coverage: Find answers from additional web sources when predefined trusted sources don't provide enough information.

    • Safety and transparency: A validated approach that reduces the risk of clinical misinformation and ensures appropriate, transparent responses.

    Microsoft can disable this feature manually at the organizational unit level. To request this change, contact your CSE or technical support team. Additional user-level and organization-level settings for safe web search are planned for a future release.

  • Relevant versions: Dragon Copilot (web, desktop, mobile)

  • Relevant experience: Clinician/physician

  • Region: US

  • Action required: No action required.

Status indicators and notifications - enhancements

  • Description: The product now provides clear, real-time microphone status indicators and recording notifications. Users always know when the product is actively capturing documentation. These enhancements reduce uncertainty and missed entries in the Epic-embedded experience.

  • Relevant version: Dragon Copilot (embedded)

  • Relevant experience: Nursing

  • Region: US

  • Action required: No action required.

Regional customizable template improvements

  • Description: The product team refined the customizable templates in the UK and Republic of Ireland to better align with regional language and usage. These refinements improve output quality, relevance, and consistency for customers in these markets.

  • Relevant versions: Dragon Copilot (web, desktop, mobile)

  • Relevant experience: Clinician/physician

  • Regions: UK and Ireland

  • Action required: No action required.

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