Long touted as the future of healthcare, telemedicine is now front and centre in the face of the global COVID-19 health emergency with telehealth now being used as a key weapon to fight the spread.

Artificial Intelligence and wearable devices are set to play an ever-increasing role in the future of healthcare. With our rapidly ageing population, chronic illness, and unsustainable healthcare costs, AI has the potential to improve the diagnosis and treatment plans of patients. At the same time, wearables are poised to become a valuable tool for generating real-time data about your patients and potentially promoting and encouraging healthy behaviour.

What’s on your phone? Today’s personal devices have an app for everything, from tracking fitness to recording meals to improving mindfulness. In 2018, Accenture reported that 75 percent of consumers believe technology is important to managing their health. And almost half – 48 percent – use health-related mobile or tablet apps, a dramatic rise from 2014’s 16 percent.

The aged care industry has been careful in adopting technology-based solutions, citing fears about the technology usage, complexity, reliability, support and the ‘dangers of the internet’. However, these concerns and debates around disruptive business models have tended to overlook the improved outcomes technology can deliver for aged care, such as better self-direction for aged Australians accessing care services.