athenahealth Partners with Microsoft to Add Microsoft Dragon Copilot to athenaOne Ambient Notes

athenahealth has announced a new collaboration with Microsoft that will introduce Microsoft Dragon Copilot as an additional ambient documentation option within athenaOne. The integration, expected in the first half of 2026, will expand the Ambient Notes solution by allowing clinicians to select Dragon Copilot as one of multiple embedded AI-driven models. athenaOne remains the only electronic health record platform enabling individual clinicians within a practice to choose the ambient technology that aligns with their workflow under a single contract, reinforcing the company’s emphasis on personalization and flexibility in clinical documentation support.

The announcement highlights athenahealth’s ongoing investment in its open ecosystem strategy. Paul Brient, chief product and operations officer for athenahealth, noted, "Ambient technology is transforming how care is documented and delivered, freeing clinicians to focus more on their patients. At athenahealth, we champion an open ecosystem – easy, flexible and choice-driven. We are excited to collaborate with Microsoft Dragon Copilot to bring our customers a powerful new option." The expanded integration aims to simplify data entry for ambulatory clinicians by embedding Microsoft’s ambient capabilities directly into the existing workflow.

Dragon Copilot will complement existing ambient models within the Ambient Notes toolset, offering clinicians the ability to activate ambient listening during visits and receive AI-generated draft notes within seconds. These drafts are designed to be reviewed and edited within athenaOne to ensure clinical accuracy and alignment with patient encounters. Kenneth Harper, General Manager, Dragon Product Management, Microsoft Health and Life Sciences, stated, "At Microsoft, we’ve long been committed to empowering clinicians with our Dragon technology that simplifies their workflows and restores time for patient care. Building on our long-term strategic collaboration with athenahealth, we are now bringing Microsoft’s Dragon ambient technology, which is already in use at over 650 healthcare organizations, to athenahealth’s customers so that their clinicians can fully concentrate on delivering exceptional patient care while significantly reducing the administrative burden of clinical documentation."

Ambient Notes is currently accessible to more than 170,000 clinicians across nearly 50 specialties on the athenaOne network. The addition of Dragon Copilot is intended to expand choice and support broader adoption of ambient technologies as clinicians continue seeking tools that reduce administrative workload and improve documentation efficiency.

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