Green Tree Wellness

The challenge

Green Tree Wellness provides Enhanced Care Management (ECM) services for Medi-Cal members in San Diego and Riverside Counties. The program is governed by California’s CalAIM initiative, involves coordination with health plans including Kaiser Permanente, Molina Healthcare and IEHP, and covers 10+ populations of focus, seven core service elements and 15+ community supports.

The people who need these services may be experiencing homelessness, managing chronic illness, dealing with substance use or mental health crises, leaving incarceration or facing a high-risk pregnancy. Many have limited health literacy, rely on a phone with spotty connectivity or speak English as a second language. The website had to make a complex program feel simple and welcoming for them, while still giving providers and health plan partners the depth they need.

What we did

Structure and plain language

We organized the site around the questions visitors ask first: what is this, am I eligible, what will you do for me and how do I start. The hero promises that you don’t have to navigate healthcare alone, populations of focus are presented visually, and prominent calls to action lead to a simple intake form. We wrote copy at an 8th-grade reading level in clear, non-judgmental, partnership-focused language, with expandable sections for visitors who want more detail.

Mobile-first and accessible

• Click-to-call on every phone number, large tap targets, thumb-friendly forms and readable text without zooming
• WCAG 2.1 AA compliance: semantic HTML, a 4.5:1 minimum color contrast, keyboard-navigable forms, alt text, clear headings, focus indicators and ARIA labels
• Cognitive accessibility through short chunks of information, icons and several ways to reach the team (call, form or email)

WordPress foundation, security and speed

We built the site on WordPress with the Bold Themes Avantage theme. The intake form uses WPForms with its HIPAA addon, SSL encryption, encrypted storage, staff access controls and audit trails, backed by Business Associate Agreements with form providers. WebP images, lazy loading, minified code, a CDN and caching bring load times under 2 seconds on 3G connections. Staff can update coordinator profiles, resources, hours and blog posts themselves, and the architecture is ready for new counties, services and WPML multilingual support.

An intake form built for trust

• Progressive disclosure, with each section explaining why the information is needed
• Only essential fields required, and friendly, specific error messages
• A privacy notice up front, explicit consent checkboxes and clear statements that ECM is voluntary
• A confirmation page with a reference number, an automated email, crisis resources and a promise of contact from a Care Coordinator within 1 to 2 business days

Design and compliance

Calming greens and blues, generous white space and consistent navigation keep the phone number and Get Started button always visible. We recommended professional headshots of real Care Coordinators instead of stock photos. The footer carries the full nondiscrimination statement in multiple languages on every page, covering Title VI, Section 504, Section 1557 and language assistance requirements, alongside accurate CalAIM descriptions, Medi-Cal grievance information and health plan attribution. We set up tracking for form submissions, calls to action, click-to-call use and intake completion rates.