Delta vs Dragon Medical for psychiatrists

Dragon Medical One is cloud-based medical dictation software, published by Microsoft since it acquired Nuance. According to its website, it lets you dictate reports, correct them with voice commands and navigate the electronic medical file. Delta is a clinical assistant for mental health. It transcribes what is said during the session, or takes your dictation afterwards, then drafts the report and the letters, and keeps a memory of each patient.

We make Delta. The facts about Dragon come only from the official Microsoft and Nuance websites, read on 2 November 2026; anything they do not say is marked "not stated on its website". This article is written for psychiatrists in France, Belgium and Switzerland.

Three Dragon products not to confuse

Searching for "Dragon Medical" in 2026 brings up three different products. Nuance's French healthcare pages now redirect to Microsoft.

• Dragon Medical One: cloud medical dictation. According to its website, it lets you dictate reports with state-of-the-art speech recognition and format and correct them with voice commands.
• Microsoft Dragon Copilot: according to its website, it combines the natural-language dictation of Dragon Medical One with the ambient capture of DAX Copilot and generative AI.
• Dragon Professional: general dictation, "optimised for various professions" according to its website (our translation), not a medical product.

What Dragon does well

Dragon is the long-standing reference in medical speech recognition, and that deserves to be said clearly.

• Track record and user base. In January 2020 Nuance reported being "trusted by more than 500,000 clinicians worldwide" and announced Dragon Medical One in France and Belgium in French, Dutch and English (2020 press release, so dated). Its website also highlights a "Best in KLAS" ranking for speech recognition.
• Dictation and voice commands. According to its website, you format, correct and move through documents with natural-language commands, and PowerMic Mobile turns any workstation into a dictation station.
• Integration with the patient file system. Dragon Medical One promises smooth navigation in the electronic medical file, and Dragon Copilot offers seamless integration with electronic patient files. In a hospital, that is a real strength.
• A psychiatry template. Dragon Copilot's French "Optimisation par spécialité" sheet describes targeted improvements from September 2026 for psychiatry and addiction medicine: 9 dedicated sections (reason for consultation, psychiatric and addiction history...), a psychiatric examination organised into 12 domains, and a summary including risk assessment, protective factors and diagnostic coding.
• Presence in France. Microsoft announced the official launch of Dragon Copilot in France on 7 October 2025, after a pilot with more than 220 doctors in France, according to that press release. Its website also lists Belgium and Switzerland.

Dictation or clinical assistant: the real difference

Dictation turns your voice into text. You compose the note, you choose the structure, you proofread.

A clinical assistant starts from the session or from your dictation and produces the documents. It drafts the report, prepares letters and updates the patient file. In psychiatry, that memory helps you prepare the next appointment. Dragon Copilot sits in between: it generates notes and letters, but a running summary of a patient's follow-up over time is not stated on its website.

Side-by-side comparison

• Note-taking. Dragon Medical One: dictation of reports, according to its website. Dragon Copilot: dictation, or ambient capture of the patient-clinician conversation, according to its website. Delta: transcribes what is said during the session, or you dictate your observations afterwards, plus written notes.
• Documents produced. Dragon Medical One: the text you dictate. Dragon Copilot: structured, specialty-adapted notes, referral letters, a written summary and a summary of each consultation, according to its website. Delta: session report (short summary, detailed summary, topics for next session), letters, certificates and assessment reports.
• Patient memory. Dragon Medical One: not stated on its website. Dragon Copilot: not stated on its website. Delta: patient file updated after each session, with a follow-up summary and tracked goals.
• Psychiatry and approaches. Dragon Medical One: specialties not stated on its website. Dragon Copilot: psychiatry and addiction template, with September 2026 improvements, according to its sheet. Delta: adapts to your profession and approach (CBT, EMDR, psychodynamic, systemic...).
• Sessions with several people. Dragon Medical One: not stated on its website. Dragon Copilot: not stated on its website. Delta: tells voices apart in couple, family or group sessions.
• Patient file system. Dragon Medical One: navigation in the electronic medical file, according to its website. Dragon Copilot: integration with electronic patient files, according to its website. Delta: works in the browser, with a Mac and Windows app recommended during sessions.
• Hosting and HDS. Dragon Medical One: hosting location and HDS not stated on its website (the 2020 press release mentioned "cloud infrastructures in Europe"). Dragon Copilot: HDS and location not stated on its website. Delta: data hosted in France by an HDS-certified host, AI processing in France.
• Pseudonymisation. Dragon: not stated on its website. Delta: the patient's name and identifying details are pseudonymised before the AI.
• Audio kept. Dragon: retention period not stated on its website. Delta: no audio file is kept; audio is used only during the session to produce the transcript.
• Model training. Dragon: not stated on its website. Delta: data never used to train a model.
• Public price. Dragon: not stated on its website, which offers a downloadable data sheet. Delta: Free plan at €0 for 10 sessions a month; Pro plan at €35 incl. VAT a month with no commitment, or €29 incl. VAT a month billed yearly, with a 14-day trial and no credit card.
• Intended users. Dragon: doctors and radiologists according to dragon.nuance.com, with inpatient and emergency use cases for Dragon Copilot; an offer for a solo private psychiatrist is not stated on its website. Delta: mental health and allied health professionals.

Four situations in psychiatry

The patients below are fictional.

Follow-up consultation

Paul, 42, is followed for a depressive episode. With Dragon Medical One, you dictate after the consultation and structure the note yourself, as its website does not describe generated notes. With Dragon Copilot, the note is structured by the psychiatry template, according to its sheet. With Delta, you start the transcription during the consultation or dictate afterwards. You get a short summary, a detailed summary and topics to pick up next time, and Paul's follow-up summary is updated.

Letter to the GP

According to its website, Dragon Copilot generates a referral letter from the consultation notes in seconds. Delta drafts the letter from the patient file, in your vocabulary and structure, learned from your existing reports. You review it and sign it.

Inpatient or discharge report

This is hospital territory, and Dragon is strong here: according to their website, Dragon Medical One allows navigation in the electronic file and Dragon Copilot lists inpatient care among its uses. Delta drafts reports and letters from your notes, which can help with the part you write in private practice.

Long-term follow-up

Claire, 35, has been followed for three years for an anxiety disorder, with occasional family sessions. What takes time is finding what was said six months ago and seeing where the goals stand. Delta tells voices apart in family sessions, updates the follow-up summary and the goals, and the whole history is in one place.

When dictation is enough

• You work mostly in the patient file system of a hospital that provides Dragon.
• You like to compose your notes yourself, sentence by sentence.
• Your documents are short.

When a clinical assistant does more

• Your time goes into structuring reports rather than typing.
• You write many letters and assessment reports and want them to keep your style.
• You follow patients for years and want an up-to-date file with tracked goals.
• You see couples, families or groups.

Using both

If you split your time between hospital and private practice, you can use Dragon at the hospital, if the hospital provides it and connects it to its patient file system, and Delta in your practice for sessions, reports and letters. The two tools stay separate.

Checklist before you choose

In France, the certification requirement for health data hosts comes from article L1111-8 of the Public Health Code. The French digital health agency (ANS) explains that it covers services handling health data collected during prevention, diagnosis, care or social and medico-social follow-up, offered on behalf of health professionals. The CNIL reminds private practitioners that the host, as a processor, must guarantee security suited to the risk, and that "you must check this point and sign a contract with your provider" (our translation).

HDS certification for Dragon Medical One and Dragon Copilot is not stated on its website. In Belgium and Switzerland the rules differ, but the same questions apply. We recommend asking every provider, Delta included:

• HDS certification. Ask for the host's HDS certificate and check that it covers the tool you use.
• Hosting location. Ask which country the servers are in, and where the AI processing happens.
• Pseudonymisation. Ask whether the patient's name is removed before AI processing.
• Audio. Ask whether audio is kept, and for how long.
• Training. Ask in writing whether your data is used to train a model.
• Contract. Require a data processing agreement, as the CNIL reminds you.
• Price and trial. Check the price, the commitment and whether you can try before paying.
• Fit with your practice. Test on your own sessions, with your approach, and tell your patients which tool you use.
• Consumer apps. Phone dictation or a general-purpose app is not designed for patient data; ask them the same questions before any clinical use.

For a broader method, see our guide on how to choose medical dictation software. Our Delta vs Nabla comparison covers another tool used in France.

Why Delta fits psychiatrists

Delta is more than dictation: it is a clinical assistant that keeps a memory of each patient. It transcribes what is said during the session, or takes your dictation afterwards, drafts the report and updates the file, with the follow-up summary and goals. It writes your letters and assessment reports in your vocabulary and structure, learned from your existing reports (see our clinical document templates). Data stays in France, with an HDS-certified host, and no audio is kept. For Belgium and Switzerland, data stays in Europe, in France, on infrastructure certified for health data.

Delta does not handle billing codes, test scoring, invoicing, electronic claims or scheduling. See the pricing page for plans. It works in the browser and in a Mac and Windows app. To learn more, read what Delta is or see Delta for psychiatrists.

Sources

• Microsoft, Dragon Medical One (read 02/11/2026)
• Microsoft, Dragon Copilot (read 02/11/2026) and France launch press release (07/10/2025)
• Dragon Copilot, "Optimisation par spécialité" sheet (November 2026 version, read 02/11/2026)
• French digital health agency, scope of health data hosting rules (updated 22/09/2026)
• CNIL, GDPR and private health practitioners (01/06/2018)