{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,5]],"date-time":"2026-10-05T18:42:26Z","timestamp":1791225746149,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,25]],"date-time":"2022-05-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1653436800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Australian J Rural Health"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2022,8]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:sec><jats:title>Aim<\/jats:title><jats:p>COVID\u201019 rapidly transformed how Australians access health care services. This paper considers how the inability for urban patients to access in\u2010person care expediated the introduction of virtual solutions in health service delivery thus creating a new access paradigm for rural and remote Australians.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Context<\/jats:title><jats:p>\u2018Physical distancing\u2019 is a phrase synonymous with public health responses to COVID\u201019 in Australia, but distance is a decades\u2010long problem for rural health access. Counterintuitively, the pandemic and associated restrictions on mobility have reduced <jats:italic>in real terms<\/jats:italic> the distance from, and therefore the time taken to access, critical public services. \u2018Lockdowns\u2019 have <jats:italic>unlocked<\/jats:italic> health access for rural and remote Australians in ways that had been rejected prior to 2020. The pandemic has disrupted traditional delivery models and allowed the piloting of novel solutions, at the same time as stress\u2010testing current delivery systems. In the process, it has laid bare a myopia we term \u2018urban paternalism\u2019 in understanding and delivering rural health.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Approach<\/jats:title><jats:p>This commentary outlines how the COVID\u201019 operating environment has challenged traditional urban\u2010dominated policy thinking about virtual health care delivery and how greater availability of telehealth appointments goes some way to reducing the health access gap for rural and remote Australians.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>Australian Commonwealth Government policy changes to expand the Medical Benefit Scheme (MBS) to include telephone or online health consultations are a positive initiative towards supporting Australians through the ongoing public health crisis and have also created access parity for some rural and remote patients. Although initially announced as a temporary COVID\u201019 measure in March 2020, telehealth has now become a permanent feature of the Medicare landscape. This significant public health reform has paved the way for a more flexible and inclusive universal health care system but, more importantly, taken much needed steps towards improving access to primary health care for patients in rural and remote areas. Now the question is: Can the health care system integrate this virtual model of delivery into \u2018business as usual\u2019 to ensure the long\u2010term sustainability of telehealth services to rural and remote Australia?<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1111\/ajr.12877","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,25]],"date-time":"2022-05-25T12:41:00Z","timestamp":1653482460000},"page":"544-549","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":30,"title":["Survival of rural telehealth services post\u2010pandemic in Australia: A call to retain the gains in the \u2018new normal\u2019"],"prefix":"10.1111","volume":"30","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6325-337X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lisa A.","family":"Caffery","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Business and Law Central Queensland University  Emerald Queensland Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8251-9521","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Olav T.","family":"Muurlink","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Business and Law Central Queensland University  Brisbane Queensland Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7342-8348","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andrew W.","family":"Taylor\u2010Robinson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Health Sciences Vin University  Hanoi Vietnam"},{"name":"Center for Global Health University of Pennsylvania  Philadelphia Pennsylvania USA"},{"name":"School of Health, Medical &amp; Applied Sciences Central Queensland University  Brisbane Queensland Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_12_2_1","unstructured":"KalevL.The language of COVID\u201019: lockdowns masks reopening and social distancing.RealClear Public Affairs;2020[cited 2022 April 14]. 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