Trinidad panel explores remote monitoring to improve rural patient care

Remote patient monitoring could mean fewer long drives out of Las Animas County, earlier warning for chronic conditions and less pressure on Trinidad providers, and a recent panel put Mt. San Rafael Hospital at the center of that question.

The May 7 event in Trinidad featured Anthony Dann of Biometrica Health, a company that says it is working with Mt. San Rafael Hospital to improve patient outcomes in Las Animas County. The discussion was framed around both the entrepreneurial path of a med-tech startup and the practical value of remote monitoring for rural patients, where a routine follow-up can still mean hours on the road.

Mt. San Rafael Hospital describes itself as a 25-bed critical access facility serving Trinidad and the surrounding area, which helps explain why remote monitoring has drawn attention locally. The hospital also runs a hospital-based Rural Health Clinic with family medicine, internal medicine, geriatrics and pediatrics. In a county where access to specialty care often depends on travel, that kind of local care hub is exactly where remote monitoring could have the most impact.

Biometrica Health describes its product as a device-agnostic remote patient monitoring platform. In company materials tied to a UC Berkeley Health Engine podcast, the company says RPM can give clinicians real-time visibility into patient health, allowing earlier interventions, fewer hospitalizations and more coordinated care. That is the promise now being tested in a place like Trinidad, where catching a problem before it becomes a crisis could spare patients a trip and free up local clinical capacity.

Colorado law has already moved in the same direction. Senate Bill 24-168 created a Telehealth Remote Monitoring Grant Program, with up to five grants of $100,000 each, for a total of up to $500,000, aimed at rural outpatient health-care facilities in designated rural counties or provider-shortage areas. For Mt. San Rafael, that puts a public funding pathway on the table if the hospital decides to expand remote monitoring beyond a discussion point.

Dann’s background gave the panel a broader healthcare-business angle. Biometrica Health says he studied entrepreneurship at the University of St. Thomas and later worked with Mayo Clinic, Cardinal Health and Optum. The company also describes itself as HIPAA-compliant and focused on rural and underserved communities.

What remains most important for Las Animas County is whether this turns into a usable service, not just a pitch. The real test for Mt. San Rafael will be how many patients it can reach, which conditions it targets first and how quickly remote monitoring can move from panel discussion to daily practice.