TOH and Microsoft Dragon Copilot FAQs

Starting in 2024, The Ottawa Hospital (“TOH”) piloted an ambient artificial intelligence (“AI”) scribe solution that allowed patients and doctors to focus more on care needs. Following the success of the pilot, TOH moved to the Microsoft Dragon Copilot software. This document is designed to provide you with comprehensive information to ensure your confidence when in use during your healthcare visit.

How does Dragon Copilot work?

Using generative AI, Dragon Copilot securely records clinician-patient conversations during in-person appointments. Once the visit is complete, the conversation is converted into medical notes for the physician to review and finalize. Patients will retain the same access to the notes from the visit through the MyChart patient portal.

What are the benefits of using this technology?

Physicians spend around 10 hours each week on administrative tasks, such as charting after patient appointments. Using Dragon Copilot reduces the time they spend on manual documentation by over 5 hours per month on average, freeing up more time to interact with patients. During our trial period, we also saw the time spent in the Emergency Department reduced by an average of twenty-seven minutes per patient.

Drafting clinical notes using an AI scribe will also help ensure that no health information between patients and physicians gets overlooked.

What am I consenting to?

Your consent allows the provider to record the conversation, which gets analyzed by Dragon Copilot’s generative AI and is converted into a draft clinical note. This draft note is reviewed by a physician before being finalized and added to your electronic health record. Should you have concerns with the information, you can request a review if necessary.

You are also consenting to the use of your information to improve the technology by training and developing the AI model. AI systems are constantly learning and improving so they can create better outputs. Microsoft may also process your information to create de-identified health information and use such de-identified information for purposes permitted by law. For more information, see Microsoft’s Privacy & Security Terms (search: Dragon Copilot).

All information processed by Microsoft to provide Dragon Copilot will be hosted in Canada.

Do I need to consent to this?

Your physician will only use DAX Copilot to record your appointment if you provide explicit consent. However, it is your choice. You do not need to agree to the use of the AI scribe, and the quality of care you receive will not be impacted by this decision.

If you provide your consent to use Dragon Copilot, your physician will use the AI scribe for conversations related to your care and will ask for your consent again for future visits.

What if I change my mind?

Your physician can stop Dragon Copilot from recording the conversation at any time. The AI scribe’s recording can also be restarted if necessary (ex. your provider can restart Copilot to capture any important medical information you forgot to say during the initial recording). If you wish to withdraw consent after your appointment, please contact infoprivacyoffice@toh.ca. A request will then be processed for the recording to be deleted after withdrawal of consent.

Is my health information secure?

Microsoft is obligated to keep your information secure through technical and organizational measures that protect against inappropriate use and disclosure. TOH has reviewed the company’s privacy practices to ensure patient information is secure.

Audio data from the recording and other identifiable health data are retained for up to 90 days before being destroyed or anonymized. However, once the data has been transformed into a clinical note, you can review the note from your appointment via MyChart.

How do I view the note in the MyChart patient portal?

To view your clinical notes, log on to MyChart and click the “Health” tab. MyChart is a secure online patient portal that makes it easy for you to access your health information, at any time. You can access the portal or obtain more information and sign up here: MyChart.

What are the potential risks?

Your personal health information is protected by law, but there are always some risks with using AI. These include documentation inaccuracies, biases, or misuse of data.

Your physician will review the AI-generated notes for accuracy before finalizing them to ensure there are no inaccuracies in your medical note, and we have put safeguards in place to prevent against misuse (as described above).

Why is AI used in healthcare?

Like other sectors, there are many benefits to using AI in healthcare. Using AI can help streamline workflows, improve access to and quality of care, and reduce administrative burdens and wait times. It also allows staff to focus more on delivering or supporting patient care, by reducing time spent on manual tasks.

Is there a plan to expand the use of AI at TOH in the future?

We are taking a careful and responsible approach to using AI, while the world continues to adapt to new technologies. It is important to expand in a way that meaningfully helps clinicians and patients.

AI is used in a few areas of our hospital, including Ambulatory Care and Medical Imaging. For example: our Radiologists use AI imaging platforms in breast imaging and lung screening.

Does Dragon Copilot work if there’s more than one provider in the room?

Yes, there can be multiple people contributing to the conversation (ex. a second consulting physician, a POA/family member attending the appointment with the patient), and Dragon Copilot will capture the relevant health information and include it in the draft clinical notes.

Only the patient needs to consent to the use of Dragon Copilot, as it is the patient’s information that will be recorded and used.

How does Dragon Copilot handle “chit-chat” between people?

Dragon does a good job at filtering out conversation that isn’t relevant to the medical evaluation taking place. It only records clinical information, so your casual conversation won’t be included in your medical note.

Who can I contact if I have questions?

If you have questions about your privacy, contact infoprivacyoffice@toh.ca.

Last updated on: April 22nd, 2026