March 11, 2025 Newswires

Pear Suite Partners with Health Net and Six Other Health Plans to Launch the Pear Cares Provider Network with 1,000+ Community Health Workers

Business Wire

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Pear Suite, a digital health company empowering community health workers (CHWs) to address the social determinants of health (SDOH) and administrator of the largest network of community health workers in the nation, announces the launch of the Pear Cares Provider Network.

Over the past ten months, Pear Suite has partnered with seven health plans to recruit and onboard more than 1,000 CHW providers from over 200 community-based organizations, expanding capacity to serve more than 11 million Medicaid lives across three states. Simultaneously, Pear Suite has contracted with eight additional Medicaid and Dual Eligible Special Needs Plan (D-SNP) plans to deploy CHW providers in communities where they are needed most.

This announcement comes as Pear Suite’s AI-powered platform continues to evolve, providing significantly greater value to CHWs, doulas, and other frontline health workers, many of whom are transitioning from paper assessments and spreadsheets. Pear Suite currently supports organizations across 25 states, with rapid expansion planned for 2025.

Members of the Pear Cares Provider Network also benefit from clinical, operational, and administrative support, including care plan reviews, claims management, policy training, and compliance assistance—key areas that often present significant challenges for community-based organizations. This supplemental offering enables CHWs to focus on providing exceptional care, while Pear Suite staff handle tasks that are notoriously complex and time-consuming.

Health plans are also benefiting from the Pear Suite software, as they are eager to simplify the credentialing, contracting, compliance, and reporting process for CHWs, while elevating their skills and experiences. The network also offers comprehensive educational resources, regular training opportunities, and a robust community to share best practices and collaborate.

“The ultimate goal of the Pear Cares Provider Network is to increase utilization of preventative CHW services while breaking down legacy barriers that have limited CHWs from partnering with health plans,” said Colby Takeda, co-founder and CEO of Pear Suite. “By doing so, individuals with unmet health and social needs can truly benefit from the knowledge, skills, and lived experience of CHWs, an underutilized workforce that has proven to be exceptional at closing care gaps in a culturally sensitive, person-centered way.”

As one of Pear Suite’s earliest partners, California’s Health Net, a Medi-Cal managed care organization and company of Centene Corporation, has partnered with Pear Suite to recruit and onboard over 300 CHWs to support their statewide membership of 1.6 million.

"Community health workers play a vital role in bridging the gap between healthcare systems and our members, helping ensure they receive services related to perinatal care, preventive care, transportation, oral health, aging and much more," said Dorothy Seleski, Senior Vice President for Medi-Cal at Health Net. "Through our partnerships, we're able to empower members to take charge of their health, ultimately leading to improved health outcomes and reduced disparities."

Binational of California, a nonprofit organization with 10 community health workers in California’s Central Valley, is one of the participating providers in the Pear Cares Provider Network. “Partnering with Pear Suite has allowed our team to scale our impact tremendously,” says Ricardo Castorena, President and CEO of Binational of California. “Families are getting the care and resources that they need to live healthier and more independent lives.”

Another community-based organization, Asian Americans for Housing and Environmental Justice, has also joined the Pear Cares Provider Network. “Because of the Palisades and Eaton fires, we have had to grow our CHW workforce from 5 to 30,” says Susan Park, founder and executive director. “We’re proud to be a part of this Network, supporting the community in times of need.”

As the Pear Cares Provider Network expands, Pear Suite will continue forging new partnerships with a diverse range of health plans across all business lines, including Medicaid, Medicare, and commercial insurance.

About Pear Suite

Pear Suite is a digital health company that empowers community health workers to address the social determinants of health (SDOH). Through Pear Suite’s AI-powered social care navigation platform, health plans, providers, and community-based organizations can boost member engagement, improve health outcomes, and reduce the cost of care in a person-centered, culturally, and linguistically centered way. Pear Suite has supported hundreds of organizations and impacted more than 100,000 lives by driving improvements that are often overlooked in the healthcare landscape. For more information, please visit or follow us on LinkedIn and X.