Nuance Launches Dragon Ambient eXperience (DAX)

Nuance Communications has launched Dragon Ambient eXperience (DAX), an ambient clinical intelligence (ACI) solution for capturing and contextualizing physician-patient conversations.

Nuance DAX leverages and extends Nuance Dragon Medical with the latest advancements in ambient sensing technology and artificial intelligence to create a fully voice-enabled and ambient exam room environment.

As part of a multi-year joint development effort, Microsoft has partnered with Nuance to enrich Nuance DAX's capabilities with AI and cloud capabilities from Microsoft, including the ambient intelligence technology, EmpowerMD.

"It is essential to develop technology that empowers clinicians so that they can get back to doing what they trained for and love. It is equally important that we return to patients their doctors' undivided attention," said Joe Petro, chief technology officer at Nuance, in a statement. "Our development of Nuance DAX began with a deep understanding of how doctors need and want to work. We've delivered an unobtrusive solution that is as present and available as the light in the exam room and already producing meaningful results for clinicians and their patients."

Novant Health, Rush University Medical Center, SSM Health, and Nebraska Medicine are among the many healthcare organizations that have chosen Nuance DAX. Organizations like Nebraska Medicine are already realizing increased efficiency and patient throughput, higher satisfaction scores, and reduced provider burnout after using Nuance DAX. Provider satisfaction scores for clinical documentation increased approximately 88 percent, and patient consent rates exceeded 90 percent, within only two weeks of using Nuance DAX.

SSM Health, a Catholic non-profit integrated health system serving the Midwest, plans to pilot this technology in some of its specialty clinics in St. Louis, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin, beginning in March.

"With the Nuance Dragon Ambient eXperience solution, our providers can spend more time with their patients and less time on administrative tasks," said Ann Cappellari, MD, vice president and chief medical information officer at SSM Health, in a statement. "This helps providers and patients communicate more clearly and build stronger relationships. That results in better care, which is everyone's goal."

Nuance DAX is built on Microsoft Azure, Microsoft's cloud environment.

"As AI continues to improve, we expect it will empower our health system partners to turn their observations into actions, to reduce risk, flag concerns, and even help guide clinicians to the most effective care plans," said Greg Moore, corporate vice president of health technology and alliances at Microsoft, in a statement. "By working together with Nuance and applying the power of Azure and Azure AI, we aim to positively transform the day-to-day life of front-line care providers, ultimately empowering them to provide optimal health for their patients."

Nuance DAX is now available for an array of medical specialties and includes the following:

• Ambient device: A purpose-built ambient device with a highly optimized microphone array, large interactive display, integrated biometrics, and multi-sensory capabilities for capturing a multi-party conversation within an exam room
• Ambient documentation: An automated clinical documentation solution powered by deep-learning-based AI and certified through a quality review process.
• Ambient skills: A growing list of integrated Dragon virtual assistant capabilities through a hands-free access point that will enable care teams to complete tasks in real time within their EHR and other third-party applications.