By OPEN MINDS Circle
On January 26, 2022, Eagle Valley Behavioral Health (EVBH), a subsidiary of Vail Health, received its licensure as a Behavioral Health Entity (BHE) from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE). The BHE license was the final step needed for EVBH to complete the process to be licensed and designated as a community mental health center (CMHC) in Colorado. EVBH is the state’s eighteenth CMHC, and the first since 1989.
EVBH was awarded full designation as a CMHC back on October 12, 2021, but needed the BHE designation as part of the new BHE licensure process created by Colorado House Bill 19-1237 Licensing Behavioral Health Entities, which was signed into law on June 30, 2019. The law combined BHE licensure requirements of the CDPHE and the Department of Human Services (DHS). It authorized the State Board of Health to put rules for the new license into effect with the goal to reduce redundancies or confusion across varying state departments.
EVBH was created by Vail Health to transform the landscape of behavioral health in the Eagle River Valley of Colorado. EVBH is led by Chris Lindley as executive director, who also serves as chief population health officer for Vail Health. The foundation of EVBH’s approach to developing a comprehensive behavioral health system is community partnerships that are responsive to community-driven needs. EVBH also collaborates with Eagle County Paramedics, local law enforcement and the Hope Center of the Eagle River Valley, ensuring 24/7 crisis response and risk assessment, community stabilization programming, and licensed school-based clinical professionals in 14 schools across the community.
Vail Health is a non-profit community health care system with locations in Eagle and Summit counties in Colorado. It offers a 56-bed hospital, 24/7 emergency care, helipad, urgent care clinics, cancer care, breast centers, cardiovascular services, surgery, childbirth, physical therapy, internal medicine, and endocrinology. EVBH is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. It is governed by a board of directors which is comprised of community members and behavioral health leaders.
For more information, contact:
- Casey Wolfington, PsyD, Community Behavioral Health Director, Eagle Valley Behavioral Health, Post Office Box 1529, Vail, Colorado 81658; 970-569-7765; Email: drcaseywolfington@gmail.com; Website: https://www.eaglevalleybh.org/
- Maria Livingston, Interim Communications Director, Office of Behavioral Health, Colorado Department of Human Services, 3824 West Princeton Circle, Denver, Colorado 80236-3111, 720-556.0477; Email: maria.livingston@state.co.us; Website: https://www.colorado.gov/cdhs