Healthcare is getting smarter with the help of special computer programs called AI agents. These are not like regular computer programs. They can think, plan, and do tasks on their own to help doctors, nurses, and patients. This week brought several important announcements about how AI agents are changing healthcare around the world.

## Microsoft Makes Dragon Copilot Even Better

On October 16, Microsoft announced major updates to its Dragon Copilot program. Dragon Copilot is an AI clinical assistant that helps healthcare workers do their jobs better. Mary Varghese Presti, a top leader at Microsoft Health, said they want Dragon Copilot to work across whole hospitals and help many different types of healthcare workers.

The biggest news is that Dragon Copilot will now help nurses starting in December 2025 in the United States. Before this, Dragon Copilot only helped doctors. Nurses do different work than doctors, so they need their own special AI tools. This is the first time a company has made an AI assistant just for nursing work that can listen and understand what's happening during patient care.

Microsoft is also opening up Dragon Copilot so other companies can add their own special tools to it. This means hospitals can choose which extra features they want. Some of these partner tools include programs from Elsevier, Wolters Kluwer UpToDate, and OpenEvidence that give doctors quick access to trusted medical information.

Other partner tools help with different jobs. Canary Speech can listen to how patients talk and spot early signs of health problems. Cohere Health, Humata Health, and Rhyme help get approval from insurance companies faster. Press Ganey turns conversations between doctors and patients into helpful information that hospitals can use to make care better.

Baptist Health, a hospital system, is already testing some of these new tools. Dr. Brett Oliver, their chief medical information officer, said Dragon Copilot helps them use many different AI tools without making doctors' work harder. He especially likes how Canary Speech can check every patient automatically without the doctor having to remember to do it.

Dragon Copilot now works in seven countries: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Austria, France, Germany, and Ireland.

## Many Healthcare Companies Are Using AI Agents

Google Cloud released a survey on October 16 showing that 44% of healthcare companies that use AI are now using AI agents. The survey asked 605 leaders from healthcare and life sciences companies around the world between April and June 2025.

AI agents are different from older AI programs because they can work together to finish complicated tasks without someone telling them every step. Healthcare companies use AI agents most for tech support (53% of companies), security and cybersecurity (49%), and productivity and research (46%).

Some companies are using many AI agents at once. About 1 in 3 companies said they have 10 or more different AI agents working for them.

IKS Health, a company that helps with healthcare, explained how they use multiple AI agents working as a team. When a patient sees a doctor, the first AI agent takes notes about the visit. Then a second AI agent reads the notes to make sure they're correct and adds special medical codes. If the patient needs approval from their insurance company for treatment, a third AI agent helps create that request. Finally, a real person checks all the work to make sure everything is right. This system helps patients, doctors, and office staff all have better experiences.

The survey also looked at whether AI is worth the money. Most healthcare leaders (73%) said they are seeing good financial results from their AI programs. Among leaders who said AI is making money back, 83% said AI helped their company earn 6% or more in extra income each year.

Healthcare leaders said AI agents are especially helpful for patient experience and tech support (34% each), and for software development (33%).

Hackensack Meridian Health in New Jersey uses AI agents to call patients after they leave the hospital. The AI makes sure patients understand what they need to do to stay healthy at home. The hospital saw fewer patients coming back within 30 days after using this system. Sameer Sethi, who leads AI work at the hospital, said it's hard to prove AI is the only reason patients do better, but the important thing is that patients are healthier.

## Big Healthcare Conference Focuses on AI

The HLTH conference started on October 20 in Las Vegas. This is one of the biggest meetings where healthcare leaders come together to talk about new technology. This year, AI is everywhere at the conference.

Rich Scarfo, president of HLTH, said AI is "showing up everywhere" and is changing healthcare in important ways. The space at the conference for AI companies and displays is twice as big as last year. Three separate theaters at the conference are running sessions just about AI. Many new startup companies focusing on AI have come to the conference this year.

## What This Means for Healthcare

All these changes show that AI agents are becoming a normal part of healthcare. They help in many ways: they take notes so doctors can focus on patients, they help get insurance approvals faster, they remind patients about their medicine, and they spot health problems early.

The good news is that most healthcare companies are seeing positive results. They're earning money back from their AI investments, and patients are getting better care. As more companies start using AI agents and more tools become available, healthcare is likely to keep getting better for everyone.