MIAMI and BOSTON, Aug. 18, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Papa, the category-defining innovator and national leader in in-home support, today announced the expansion of its multi-year partnership with eternalHealth, a leading health insurance in Massachusetts and Arizona. The expansion adds Papa Plus pathways for post-discharge support, care gap closure, and fall risk prevention to eternalHealth’s companion care benefit to help members move from support to follow-through at the moments that matter most, while giving eternalHealth a more direct way to engage members around its quality goals.
"At eternalHealth, we look for partners that consistently deliver value for our members, and Papa has done that," said Pooja Ika, Founder and CEO of eternalHealth. "The strength of this partnership is built on results, trust, and a shared belief that human connection plays an important role in health and well-being. Expanding our work with Papa allows us to meet more of our members’ needs while continuing to strengthen the experience and outcomes we strive to deliver every day."
Medicare Advantage plans are facing increased pressure to improve quality performance and reduce avoidable utilization, while controlling costs. Meeting these goals depends on members’ ability to complete important health actions outside of the doctor’s office, like attending follow-up appointments, finishing preventive screenings, managing chronic conditions, and safely recovering at home. For many members, the challenge isn’t knowing what to do—it’s having someone show up to help them do it. Papa Plus gives health plans a trusted, in-person channel to advance quality goals and help members follow through on their care so they can stay healthier and independent at home for longer.
The expansion adds three Papa Plus pathways to eternalHealth’s companion care program to directly support HEDIS and HOS performance for improved Star Ratings:
- Post-discharge support: The period following a hospital stay is one of the highest-risk windows for readmissions, with 40% of readmitted patients citing home-related challenges as a contributing factor. Papa Pals support members during the critical 30 days after discharge, helping with home preparation, medication pickup, and transportation to follow-up appointments.
- Care gap closure: Members often want to complete preventive screenings, but face barriers in scheduling, transportation, or follow-through. Papa Pals help members identify in-network providers, schedule appointments, and get to and from those appointments with transportation and support to help close the gap.
- Fall risk prevention: Falls are one of the most common causes of injury and hospitalization among older adults. During visits, Papa Pals help members spot and address everyday home safety hazards, like rugs, cords, and cluttered pathways, and document their observations. Those findings, including larger fall risk concerns and any recent falls the member reports, are shared with eternalHealth so the plan can follow up with additional support as needed.
Since launching in 2023, Papa’s partnership with eternalHealth has grown alongside the plan itself, with 170% membership growth from 2025 to 2026. Across more than 5,000 visits, Papa Pals have helped eternalHealth members address social isolation and everyday barriers to care, including transportation, which accounts for roughly one in five visits. Members have consistently rated the program highly, with an average satisfaction score of 4.8 out of 5.
This foundation of trust and connection is what makes Papa Plus work differently than traditional support or outreach models. When a Papa Pal arrives to support a member transitioning home from the hospital or offers to help schedule a preventive screening, they're not arriving as a stranger, but as a trusted companion. With Papa Plus, eternalHealth is evolving its companion care benefit into a broader strategy for supporting member engagement, quality improvement, and care continuity.
For Papa, the expansion with eternalHealth reflects the kind of deep, evolving partnerships it has been building across the health plan market, and a broader shift in how health plans are thinking about in-home support: not as a standalone benefit, but as a strategic channel for the engagement work that's hardest to do any other way.
“As eternalHealth has grown, Papa has grown alongside it, extending quality-aligned, human support into the home and community in ways that drive real engagement and trust,” said Andrew Parker, Founder and CEO of Papa. “What started as companionship has evolved into a broader platform for helping plans engage members around some of their most important quality and care management priorities. That is what Papa Plus is meant to do: make it easier for our plan partners to connect companionship with structured pathways that support quality, follow-through, and measurable impact.”
About eternalHealth
Headquartered in Boston’s Back Bay, eternalHealth is a women-run, women-built, and women-owned Medicare Advantage company whose mission is to bring accessible, affordable, and high-quality healthcare to communities in Massachusetts, Arizona, and beyond. Its focus on preventive and chronic care management aligns with its commitment to removing barriers older adults may face and helping members live the lives they deserve. eternalHealth serves Medicare beneficiaries in Massachusetts and Arizona and is focused on improving outcomes, enhancing access, and elevating the member experience. Learn more: eternalHealth.
About Papa
Papa is the most comprehensive and strategic in-home support platform, connecting health plan members and families with highly vetted companions called Papa Pals. Our core companion care model provides personalized, hyper-local support on a national scale, addressing the root social needs that impact a person's health and well-being. Papa Plus builds on this foundation by unifying companion care and targeted, outcomes-driven quality programs. Purpose-built for health plans, Papa Plus transforms in-home support into a trusted, direct-to-member channel to drive engagement with managed care initiatives, such as closing care gaps and reducing readmissions. Built on human connection and validated through millions of visits and dozens of studies, Papa’s first-of-its-kind care model has been shown to improve member engagement, enhance quality of life, and contribute to more informed use of healthcare services—leading to lower costs and better health. We’re driven by our vision to age better together. Learn more at papa.com.
Jillian Bongiorni Meadows Papa Inc. press@papa.com Jena Boyce eternalHealth Marketing@eternalHealth.com