Does Epic have built-in dictation?

Epic does not sell a dictation app that you install and speak into on its own. Clinicians who dictate in Epic use Dragon products that run inside the Epic workflow. Epic has now added its own ambient tool, AI Charting, which listens to the visit and drafts the note. That tool is not dictation in the usual sense, but it covers much of the same work. Which route your clinicians have depends on your health system's configuration, so ask your IT team before you buy anything.

Dragon Medical One is the desktop route into Epic's chart

The clearest source we found is a health system's Epic tip from 2020. It says that Dragon Medical One is the tool for dictating into a patient's chart on a desktop or tablet in Epic's Hyperspace client ¹. Dragon Medical One is a Nuance product. Microsoft completed its acquisition of Nuance in 2022 ², so the engine behind Epic dictation now belongs to Microsoft. That is why the same tools appear under Microsoft's product names in later documents.

A 2020 tip describes one health system's setup, and Epic and Microsoft have changed their products since then. Treat it as proof of the route, not of today's version.

Haiku and Canto now point to ambient recording

The same 2020 tip says that Epic's mobile apps, Haiku on smartphones and Canto on iPads, support Dragon dictation directly into progress notes started in the app ³. A newer Microsoft guide describes the mobile workflow differently. It says to open Haiku or Canto, select a patient, select DAX Copilot at the bottom of the screen, and then start the ambient recording ⁴.

The two sources do not conflict on the products. They differ on the method. Dictation means you speak the note yourself. Ambient recording means the app listens to the conversation and drafts the note. The Microsoft guide also says features vary with your organization's configuration, language settings and client, so the steps you see may differ.

Epic's AI Charting drafts notes from the visit

In February 2026, Epic rolled out an AI tool that drafts clinical notes. Healthcare Dive reported it that week ⁵. AI Charting is part of Epic's Art clinician assistant. It listens during appointments and can suggest orders based on the conversation.

Clinicians can also shape the note by voice. The launch coverage gives the example of asking the tool to format current conditions as a bulleted list ⁶. That is the closest thing to native voice editing in Epic that we found. We could not find an independent test of its accuracy, and the launch reports rest on Epic's own statements.

Two products that look alike need different checks

If your clinicians want to speak their own note, check the first two rows. If they want the visit drafted for them, check the last two. Both affect the time a note takes, but they carry different risks, so do not treat them as one feature.

What the evidence says about time in the note

Epic's analysis covered 215,207 U.S. ambulatory physicians who used the Epic record between September 2020 and May 2021 ⁷. In adjusted models, physicians who mainly used transcription and dictation spent 1.30 minutes less per visit on notes than those who mainly used SmartTools ⁸. The comparison is observational. The authors caution that it does not show dictation causes shorter notes, so read it as a pattern.

The study predates AI Charting, so it says nothing about the newest tool. It does show that the way a note is produced changes how long it takes, and that is worth measuring in your own clinic.

It depends on your health system's configuration

• Your clinicians' device. Desktop users and mobile users may have different routes.
• Your Epic version and modules. Some features need a specific release, and the guide we read says configuration changes what appears.
• Your contract. Dragon Medical One and Dragon Copilot are licensed products, so check whether your organization has them.
• Your note type. A dictated progress note and an ambient draft need different review steps before signing.

What to do before you choose

1. Ask your Epic administrator which of the four routes is enabled for your clinicians, and on which devices.
2. Test one real note on each route you might use, in a training or test environment if you have one, and count the corrections.
3. Ask where audio is stored, for how long, and who can access it, and get the answer in writing.
4. If you are choosing a separate product, compare it with the built-in route on the same note. The Dragon Medical One glossary entry explains the product name, and the custom vocabulary entry explains how to add your terms.

For the wider picture of specialist tools, see the professional dictation guide, which compares Epic with radiology and ambient scribe products. Radiology uses its own reporting systems, covered in what dictation software radiologists use. If your clinicians want a scribe that works outside Epic, read what the Heidi dictation app is. The dictation software hub links to every guide on this topic.