After the virus, are we ever going back? We've been chatting to a number of experts in the field of telehealth this week and the consensus seems to be that now that the dam has broken, it is highly unlikely that we will revert to business as usual after the pandemic is over. Healthcare professionals will see that it is not always necessary for patients to present themselves in person, and we live in hope that funders like Medicare will no longer fear that the system will be rorted and instead embrace the savings and quality of care that can be achieved.

We are closely watching how things are panning out for the healthcare system in locked-down New Zealand, where some general practices simply will not see a patient unless they have been triaged by phone first. Hospitals are doing that for outpatients too, telling patients not to present unless specifically asked to. One DHB has even launched a fundraiser to buy remote monitoring devices for chronically ill patients to try to keep them at home. As Australia's CSIRO showed four years ago, widespread remote monitoring could save billions every year if fully embraced. Now would seem the time to seriously consider it. Things have changed utterly and we don't think they'll ever go back.