A system and method for observing patients in geographically dispersed health care locations. A portable monitoring station is associated with a patient assigned to a health care location. The portable monitoring station comprises monitoring equipment that monitors physiological measures of the patient. A remote command center receives the monitored data elements, accesses patient data elements indicative of a medical condition associated with the patient, and applies a patient-specific rule to selected data elements to determine whether the patient-specific rule has been contravened. The monitored equipment may further comprise video and audio equipment that captures patient video data and patient audio data and provides these data to the central command center.