Dr. Greene spoke at the opening session of the Health 2.0 Conference this week. He explained a groundbreaking move from President Thomas Jefferson as a key to today’s digital world. Trust me – the analogy works…

Dr. Greene pointed out that our country’s first two presidents never shook hands with others; they bowed, keeping the traditions of Old World royalty. President Jefferson was the first to offer his hand in greetings.

Dr. Greene’s story illustrates how our Old World health system was set up – how patients were conditioned to bow to doctors, not to approach them. With what he called “the data handshake,” patients have access to health data that puts the power of information into our hands.

He went further with another story about Jefferson. Jefferson was responsible for the introduction of tomatoes to the American diet. Dr. Greene pointed out that kids as a whole don’t like tomatoes, but if we as parents ask our children to help slice the tomato (safely) or – even better – help grow and pick the tomato, they’ll be more likely to enjoy it. Again, this is like the idea of Health 2.0: the more we are involved in our own healthcare, the more likely it is that we will understand our choices and control our healthy future.