By: Spencer Morrissey, Director, Executive Office & PXI Center 

Microsoft AI is the newest collaborator in the National Health Council’s (NHC) Patient Experience + Innovation Center (PXI), joining a growing effort to ensure health AI is built with patients, not just for them. As Microsoft AI is preparing to launch its new platform, Copilot Health, the company is partnering with PXI through a trusted tester project designed to bring patient insight directly into the development process. 

PXI is the NHC’s hub for advancing patient partnership in health AI and technology. The Center connects patients, innovators, and health leaders to promote the responsible and trustworthy use of digital health tools while ensuring patient perspectives shape how these technologies are designed and deployed. 

That work is becoming increasingly important as artificial intelligence transforms how people access information, navigate care, and manage their health. From digital assistants to care navigation tools, AI is rapidly entering everyday health decisions. Whether these tools succeed will depend not only on technological capability but on whether they reflect the real needs and experiences of patients and caregivers. 

PXI helps bridge that gap by creating spaces where patient leaders and technology developers can work together. The Center’s work is organized through four core components: LearningLab, PatientLink, ProjectHub, and the Leadership Alliance. 

Microsoft AI’s collaboration takes place through both PatientLink & ProjectHub, which connects innovators with patient organizations and experts to find each other and co-design emerging technologies. Microsoft AI is inviting a small group of patients, caregivers, provider, and public sector partners to participate in the Copilot Health trusted tester program, to help evaluate the platform before launch. The goal is to ensure the tool is safe, responsible, and genuinely useful for individuals managing their health, caregivers supporting loved ones, and communities navigating complex care decisions. 

Beyond collaborations like this one, PXI also serves as a resource for organizations working to understand and responsibly apply AI in health care. 

The PXI LearningLab is a curated library of trusted resources, tools, and real-world examples advancing patient-centered AI innovation. It brings together educational materials, case studies, and practical guidance from across the health ecosystem to help patient organizations, innovators, and industry partners navigate emerging technologies. 

Current resources highlight initiatives from leaders across the field, including the Digital Medicine Society’s Scaling Trusted, High-Impact AI Care Navigation initiative and the Digital Medicine Academy®. The LearningLab also features patient organization innovations such as the Marfan Foundation’s Community Companion, educational resources like the Patient Empowerment Network’s Digitally Empowered® course, and guidance on responsible AI development from the Coalition for Health AI (CHAI), including best practices for health advice chatbots. If you have resources, curriculum, and tools that the patient community would benefit from, please submit them to be added. 

PXI also brings together leaders across health care, technology, and patient advocacy through its Leadership Alliance. The Alliance connects patient organizations, innovators, and technology leaders to accelerate patient-centered solutions in health care, research, and business. 

Through leadership roundtables, conferences, and engagement with policymakers and regulators, the Alliance helps ensure that patient experiences inform technology development, governance, and policy decisions. Members include organizations such as AcademyHealth, the Coalition for Health AI, the Digital Medicine (DiMe) Society, the Marfan Foundation, the Lupus Foundation of America, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Microsoft AI, and many others committed to advancing responsible innovation. 

Ultimately, building the future of health AI will require more than new technologies. It will require collaboration across the health ecosystem and meaningful partnership with the people these tools are meant to serve. 

PXI will continue this conversation during its next Quarterly Convening on March 26 at 2:00 p.m. ET, which will feature an AI 101 workshop, a demonstration of Copilot Health, and a panel discussion on Building the Patient-Centered AI Ecosystem with Steve Winawer, Head of Data, Digital, and Technology USBU, Takeda; Ian Miller, Programs Director, DiMe Society; Heather Flannery, CEO, AI MINDsystems Foundation; and others. You can register here. 

NHC members interested in participating in the Copilot Health trusted tester program or learning more about PXI initiatives and how to collaborate, can contact me directly, at smorrissey@nhcouncil.org.