The Beat Empowering Community Health Workers with Technology with Colby Takeda, Co-Founder and CEO of Pear Suite
What happens when some of healthcare’s most trusted workers are still operating outside the systems that document, reimburse, and scale care?
In this episode, Colby Takeda, Co-Founder & CEO of Pear Suite, joins Saul Marquez live at ViVE to explore why community health workers are becoming a more essential part of the healthcare ecosystem. Drawing from his background in senior living and public health, Colby explains how Pear Suite helps community-based providers move beyond paper and spreadsheets with tools to document care, navigate credentialing and contracting, submit claims, and get paid for the value they deliver.
The conversation also looks at Pear Suite’s broader vision for connecting community-based organizations, health plans, and providers in a more coordinated system of care. Colby shares why AI should reduce administrative burden instead of replacing trusted relationships, how co-design with frontline workers has shaped the platform, and where he sees the biggest opportunity to make community-based care more sustainable and accessible at scale.
Tune in to hear how community health workers are becoming more essential to the healthcare ecosystem, and how better infrastructure and smarter technology can make community-based care more sustainable and scalable.
About the Guest:
Colby Takeda is Co-Founder & CEO of Pear Suite. With a background in public health, senior living, and community-based care, he founded the company to help community health workers and community-based organizations better navigate the operational side of delivering meaningful support. Under his leadership, Pear Suite has built a tech-enabled model that combines workflow tools, reimbursement support, credentialing, contracting, and claims infrastructure to help community-based providers work more effectively with health plans and the broader healthcare system.
Things You’ll Learn:
- Why community health workers are becoming more central to modern, whole-person care models.
- How Pear Suite helps community-based providers document care, manage compliance, and get reimbursed for their work.
- Why policy shifts and Medicaid reimbursement are creating new momentum for community-based care.
- How AI can support community health workers by reducing administrative burden without replacing trust-based relationships.
- Why connecting health plans, providers, and community organizations is key to making community-based care sustainable at scale.
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