“Health 1.0” has dramatically increased our lifespan. But it’s essentially run health care as a cottage industry without evidence-based guidelines, quality measures, or standardization. You mess with my physician autonomy and my patient’s autonomy at your peril. And volume trumps value.

“Health 2.0” seeks to upgrade health care into a 21st –century industry. We no longer see health care as a fragmented, piecemeal jumble of individual patient-doctor interactions. It can actually be an integrated system for delivering standardized medicine across different systems. Communal guidelines have priority over my physician autonomy. And I’m rewarded for the value of the health care I provide, not the volume of health care I deliver.

In “Health 3.0,” technology won’t be a tool for meaningless abuse. Everything that can be automated will be. But the patient’s visit to a Health 3.0 clinic will feel anything but automated. He’ll feel like he’s entered a sacred space for healing, where everyone from the receptionist to the billing staff is invested in his being well.

As doctors in Health 3.0, we’ll present ourselves as what John Mackey, cofounder of Whole Foods Market, calls servant-leaders. We’ve renewed our calling to the practice of medicine: not to an insular, antiquated practice of yesteryear, or to one that caters to the lower common denominators of health. No, we’re in service to something bigger and deeper. This gives us great power.

We ground this power in the time-tested patient-doctor relationship. We listen to the patient with full awareness and presence. We’re actively building the trust so critical to this relationship. This trust allows both the patient and us to be appropriately accountable to each other. We’ll have the patient bear the responsibility to help herself to health. And she’ll have us bear the responsibility to guide her.

To read more of Venu Julapalli's article, please click here.