Technovation with Peter High (CIO, CTO, CDO, CXO Interviews) Digitized Isn’t Digital: Dr. Michael Pfeffer on Redesigning Healthcare with AI
Jan 15, 2026
Dr. Michael Pfeffer, Chief Information and Digital Officer at Stanford Health Care, discusses the evolution of healthcare technology. He explains why 'digitized' is not the same as 'digital' and shares insights into Stanford's innovative ChatEHR project and the FIRM framework for responsible AI. Pfeffer highlights the importance of AI in enhancing clinical value while emphasizing that it cannot replace the human connection in medicine. He also envisions AI streamlining healthcare processes and driving precision health through advanced data integration.
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Digitized ≠ Digital
- Digitized records are not the same as digital workflows and require new tools to unlock value.
- Michael Pfeffer says moving from digitized to digital is harder but far more rewarding for care delivery.
Building SHADHR: An Embedded LLM
- Stanford built an embedded LLM called SHADHR that pulls real-time EHR data into clinicians' workflows.
- Michael Pfeffer reports clinicians use it to query records and that he uses it while on service with excellent feedback.
Secure Sandbox Sparked Demand
- Stanford opened a secure GPT sandbox for clinicians to experiment with LLMs before clinical use.
- Michael Pfeffer says this allowed users to learn and revealed demand to integrate models into the EHR.