Eagle Valley Behavioral Health, a nonprofit outreach of Vail Health, set out to expand access to mental and behavioral health care across its community. To do it, it needed more than static processes: a platform that connected patients with providers, served both sides, and could be rolled out to more communities quickly.

The challenge

The system would hold sensitive health information, so security and HIPAA requirements shaped it from the first day. It also had to scale: onboarding a new community needed to be straightforward, not a new project each time.

Mike Richards, IT Data Systems Director, brought nearly 20 years of web development and IT project management to the evaluation. He was looking for a partner as much as a platform, with three requirements:

  • a dedicated team committed to the solution for the long term;
  • people who understood the organization’s deadlines, expectations, and broader goals;
  • a team that met exceptionally high security requirements and protocols.

The solution

Eagle Valley Behavioral Health and Plant an App built the platform together, with Plant an App’s team delivering alongside the organization. The system brought together:

  • provider management for the network of mental health providers people are matched with;
  • calendaring and events for appointments and community programs;
  • relationship management for the people the organization serves;
  • Employee Assistance Program (EAP) services.

“The team members at Plant an App are all highly dependable and talented developers.”

Mike Richards, IT Data Systems Director

The results

  • Ten weeks from start to a working platform, about half the usual development time.
  • Less than a day to respond to requested changes.
  • High adoption and engagement across the community.
  • People connected to mental health resources, with growing interest from contributors, from an initial 20 to 30, and rising.

Why it matters

A platform like this is never finished. New providers join, programs change, and every new community brings its own needs. Because the team can change the system within a day of being asked, it keeps up with the people it serves instead of falling behind them.