Doctors and nurses can expect lighter workloads with Microsoft's new AI tools.

• On Thursday, Microsoft unveiled a range of innovative health-care data and AI technologies.
• AI applications can be developed more rapidly and clinicians can save time on administrative tasks with the help of tools designed for health systems.
• Microsoft is making strides to become a prominent figure in the field of health-care AI with its latest example.

New health-care data and artificial intelligence tools were announced on Thursday, including a collection of medical imaging models, a health-care agent service, and an automated documentation solution for nurses.

The goal of the tools is to enable health-care organizations to develop AI applications more rapidly and reduce the amount of time clinicians spend on administrative tasks, which is a significant contributor to burnout in the industry. A report from the Office of the Surgeon General indicates that nurses spend up to 41% of their time on documentation.

The integration of AI into healthcare aims to relieve the burden on medical staff, promote collaboration among healthcare professionals, and improve the overall effectiveness of healthcare systems nationwide, as stated by Mary Varghese Presti, vice president of portfolio evolution and incubation at Microsoft Health and Life Sciences, in a pre-recorded address to reporters.

Microsoft's latest health-care AI tools are the latest example of its efforts to become a leader in this field. In October 2020, the company unveiled a range of health features on its Azure cloud and Fabric analytics platform. Additionally, Microsoft acquired Nuance Communications, a company that provides speech-to-text AI solutions for health care and other sectors, in a $16 billion deal in 2021.

Microsoft has announced several solutions on Thursday, but many of them are still in the early stages of development or only available in preview. Health-care organizations will test and validate them before Microsoft releases them more broadly. The company declined to disclose the cost of these new tools.

Health-care AI models

Imaging exams are frequently used in hospital and health system visits as doctors often rely on them to aid in patient treatment.

Microsoft is introducing a set of open-source AI models that can process data beyond text, including medical images, clinical records, and genomic data. These models can be utilized by healthcare organizations to develop new applications and tools.

A whole-slide model developed by Microsoft and Providence Health & Services has improved mutation prediction and cancer subtyping, according to a paper published in Nature.

Health systems can further refine and adapt it to suit their specific requirements.

"Providence's chief strategy and digital officer, Sara Vaezy, stated in an interview with CNBC that obtaining a whole-slide foundation model for pathology has been challenging in the past, but now it is achievable. She added that this development was a game changer."

The Azure AI Studio serves as Microsoft's generative AI development hub and contains models available in the model catalog.

Health-care agent service

Microsoft also announced a new way for health systems to build AI agents.

AI agents differ in complexity, but they can assist users in answering questions, automating tasks, and executing specific functions.

Microsoft Copilot Studio allows organizations to develop agents with healthcare-specific safeguards. The platform displays the source of any clinical evidence mentioned in an answer and indicates whether it is AI-generated. Additionally, fabrications and omissions are flagged, Microsoft stated.

An AI agent could assist doctors in identifying relevant clinical trials for patients by typing in their specific details, such as age, gender, and medical conditions. This would save doctors time and effort in searching for each trial individually.

Microsoft Health and Life Sciences' Hadas Bitran stated in a Q&A with reporters that AI agents that assist patients with basic questions have been widely adopted by health systems that have already implemented the service. Additionally, she noted that agents that help doctors with recent guidelines and patients' history are also commonly used.

Microsoft's health-care agent service is available in a preview capacity starting Thursday.

Bringing automated documentation to nurses

On Thursday, Microsoft revealed its plans for the next phase of its partnership with Epic Systems, which involves building an AI-powered documentation tool for nurses.

Microsoft has a long-standing partnership with Epic, a health-care software vendor that manages the electronic health records of over 280 million individuals in the U.S.

Microsoft's Nuance has an automated documentation tool for doctors called DAX Copilot, which was introduced last year. This tool enables doctors to record their patient visits with consent and AI converts them into clinical notes and summaries.

Doctors can save time by not having to type out notes every time they see a patient.

The use of technology has increased significantly this year. In January, Nuance declared that DAX Copilot was available for general use within Epic's electronic health record, which is highly valued in the healthcare industry. By integrating DAX Copilot directly into doctors' EHR workflow, they won't have to switch apps to access it, which saves time and reduces administrative workload.

Microsoft is developing a tool similar to DAX Copilot, but optimized for nurses.

"Nurses have a unique workflow that differs from physicians, and any solution designed for them must be compatible with their work style, according to Presti during the briefing. Our team has spent numerous hours observing nurses during their shifts to understand their work processes and identify the areas where they encounter the most challenges throughout the day."

Microsoft is collaborating with institutions such as Stanford Health Care, Northwestern Medicine, and Tampa General Hospital to create it.