Use Outlook's AI to Draft Prescriber Communications

What This Does

Outlook's built-in Copilot AI can draft professional clinical emails to prescribers about drug interactions, prescription concerns, PA status, or therapeutic alternatives — in seconds, right inside your email window. No copy-pasting to a separate chatbot needed.

Before You Start

• You have Outlook installed and open (desktop or web version)
• Your organization has Microsoft 365 with Copilot enabled (this requires a Microsoft 365 Copilot license — check with your IT team)
• You're logged into your work email account

Steps

1. Open a new email

Click New Email (or New Message) in Outlook. The compose window opens.

What you should see: A blank email with To, Subject, and body fields.

2. Find the Copilot button

Look for the Copilot icon (a small colorful star/spark) in the email toolbar — it's usually near the right side of the message ribbon. In Outlook Web, it may appear as a Draft with Copilot button in the compose area.

What you should see: The Copilot button appears in the formatting toolbar or as a sparkle icon in the compose window. Troubleshooting: If you don't see it, your organization may not have Copilot enabled. Contact your IT department or try the free chatbot method in the Level 1 guide instead.

3. Click "Draft with Copilot" and describe your email

A text field appears: "What do you want this email to say?"

Type a natural-language description of what you need:

• "Email to Dr. Johnson about a patient on warfarin and ibuprofen — concern about bleeding risk, asking if we can switch to acetaminophen"
• "Fax note to prescriber about prior auth denial for Ozempic, requesting medical necessity documentation"
• "Note to Dr. Chen that metformin 1000mg was on shortage, dispensed 500mg #90 with instructions to take two tablets, please confirm"

4. Choose a tone and generate

Copilot offers a Tone dropdown: Direct, Formal, Casual, Neutral, Informative. For prescriber communications, select Formal or Direct.

Click Generate. Copilot drafts the email in the message body in about 3–5 seconds.

What you should see: A complete email draft appears with a proper greeting, clinical content, and closing.

5. Review, edit, and send

Read through the draft. Edit any clinical details that need updating — AI drafts sometimes generalize where you need to be specific. Add patient context, specific drug names, or exact dates as needed.

Click Send when satisfied.

Real Example

Scenario: A patient is on fluoxetine (Prozac) and was just prescribed tramadol by an urgent care physician. You need to alert the prescriber to the serotonin syndrome risk before dispensing.

What you type in Copilot: "Clinical fax note to urgent care physician. Patient was prescribed tramadol 50mg for acute back pain. They are already on fluoxetine 20mg. I have a serotonin syndrome interaction concern. Asking if they want to switch to a different analgesic. Keep it professional and under 120 words."

What you get: A complete clinical note explaining the interaction, the potential severity, and a clear request for prescriber guidance on an alternative — formatted for faxing.

Tips

• Keep your Copilot prompt under 200 words — shorter, more specific descriptions produce better drafts than vague long ones
• For fax notes, add "format this as a pharmacy fax communication with a header line and my contact information at the bottom" to get the right structure
• If the first draft isn't quite right, click Regenerate or type "make it more concise" or "add more clinical detail about [specific concern]" in the Copilot prompt to refine

Tool interfaces change — if a button has moved, look for similar AI/Copilot/magic options in the same menu area.