Care Across America
"Care Across America, an Approved Senior Network® Podcast"—your go-to source for engaging conversations and practical insights from home care and senior care experts across the United States. Each episode will spotlight industry professionals, and their referral networks, sharing impactful stories, proven strategies, and innovative solutions in senior care. This podcast is perfect for professionals, adult children of aging parents, and family members struggling with senior care choices and care.
Care Across America
From Brooklyn to Beyond: Building a 39-Year Legacy in Home Healthcare
Ever wonder what it takes to build a healthcare company that truly cares? Stephen Sternbach, President and CEO of Star MultiCare, shares the remarkable journey that began 39 years ago with a no-money-down deal for a small Brooklyn nurse's registry.
Stephen's story isn't just about business growth – it's about understanding what makes exceptional care possible. From his early days applying systematic selling techniques learned at ADP to recognizing the shifting healthcare landscape, he transformed a single-location registry into a multi-state operation serving thousands of families across Long Island, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida.
What makes Star MultiCare different isn't just their geographic reach, but their philosophy. "We just can't do enough for our caregivers," Stephen explains, highlighting his company's above-market compensation and culture of respect. This approach has created extraordinary stability, with leadership teams averaging 12-13 years of service and many reaching the 20-25 year mark. As Stephen puts it, "It's nothing to do with me anymore. It's all about my employees."
The company's innovative approach includes specialized services for "snowbirds" who migrate between New York and Florida seasonally, providing seamless continuity of care across state lines. When families call – often anxious about having strangers care for loved ones – Star MultiCare "talks them off the cliff" with compassionate guidance, even arranging complimentary in-home introductions between caregivers and families. Their 24/7 staffed phone lines ensure help is always available, resulting in remarkably few complaints over four decades of operation.
Considering home care services for a loved one? Discover how Star MultiCare's approach could make all the difference in your family's experience. Reach out today to learn how their team of dedicated professionals can provide the compassionate, reliable care your family deserves.
View More at HomeCareMarketingNews.com
I am Stephen Sternbach, president and CEO of Storm MultiCare. I have been running the company for 39 years.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we were just talking about that. So 39 years. So tell us what catapulted you into the home health care industry 39 years?
Speaker 1:I was director of sales for automatic data processing on Long Island, ADP, and I saw this opportunity that my accountant presented to me called STAR Registry for Nurses. So Mrs STAR wanted to retire. She was at her late 60s. My accountant said you have to buy this business. So he worked out a no money down deal for $500,000, no money down. And I bought the company and I took my ADP sales experience to all the nursing homes and hospitals in Brooklyn, because it was just a Brooklyn based company and it was a nurse's registry. We didn't do any home care at that point and I built up that business very well and as I saw hospital payments starting to slow down, I decided that I start to shoot into the home health care marketplace where now I'm building insurance companies. That became ultimately the only business that we're in and an extremely successful business. And now let's talk about where we are now.
Speaker 2:Long Island isn't the only business that we're in, and an extremely successful business. And now let's talk about where we are now. Long Island isn't the only game in town. There's a bunch more.
Speaker 1:So where else can we find Star MultiCare? We have six locations Long Island. So we're in Melville servicing Nassau, suffolk and Queens. We are in central Ohio, right between Columbus and Cleveland. We have a very good operation there. We're in central Ohio, right between Columbus and Cleveland. We have a very good operation there. We're in South Florida, licensed at Broward, dayton, palm Beach counties. I spend a lot of time in that Florida office as well. We are in all over Pennsylvania. So we have three offices Allentown, lancaster and Pittsburgh, and those are. The bulk of our revenues come from Pennsylvania, a very lucrative marketplace for Star MultiCare.
Speaker 2:Very nice, and we were just talking about the staff that works around you. The people of Star MultiCare are pretty amazing folks and they've been the leadership in your company across all the states and all the places you serve. Have been with you for a very long time, so they are committed to this just as much as you are.
Speaker 1:Their heart and their commitment is right here serving folks that need in-home care and watching the company grow with you, having a sales background and a big company sales background where I went through a lot of systematic selling techniques and marketing customer service, treating your employees extremely well, giving them lucrative opportunities with bonuses and commissions and things like that. My staff has been with me on the average of 12 to 13 years, with many people here 20 and 25 years in the company. That's what Star MultiCare is really all about Continuity of services from people that truly care.
Speaker 2:I totally agree. Having been someone who's at least known you guys and known of you for a very long time, I can tell you that the integrity there is amazing and I think treating it starts from the top down. So you being an excellent leader helps everybody that works with you be excellent leaders, and the caregivers also benefit from that, because when you have excellent leadership they're going to treat the caregiver's goal because they are. They're the heartbeat of this company. If you didn't have your caregivers, you wouldn't be in business anymore.
Speaker 1:We just can't do enough for our caregivers. Besides paying them more than fair market value, there's way more to having this business and you have to treat them exceptionally well, with total respect. It's all about respect, and my employees totally respect all the aides and nurses that work for us. People like working for my company and they leave here with a smile on their face and that's very important to me because the people make the company. It's nothing to do with me anymore. It's all about my employees.
Speaker 2:And that's true. This is a very high touch, very compassionate and very much a hand-holding type business, and the people that are working in this, whether they're in the office or they're in the home, typically tend to be very compassionate and very kind people. Their hearts are kind. They want to do something better for folks who are out there needing services. Your caregivers are always if their heart's in it. They're amazing caregivers out there.
Speaker 1:We agree, we try and get the best and keep the best.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely so. Let's talk a little bit about the relationship between Florida and New York. So Florida and New York there's I don't know if it's still the right terminology, but we used to call our folks snowbirds, who would go from New York to Florida and back during certain times of the year because it's much more fun in Florida in the winter. So you guys offer a lot of compatible services between New York and Florida. I know in the past we've tried to make sure everybody knows that there's continuity of care all the way across the United States.
Speaker 1:Exactly, snowbirds is still a term that we still use and, being in the South Florida marketplace, being in Palm Beach, boca Raton, fort Lauderdale and Miami, we get a lot of Long Island and Queens people that go back and forth and we don't lose them. We're able to supply home care services right there out of the Florida office and when they come back it picks up where they started back and it's very similar to me because I worked seven months of the year now in the Fort Lauderdale offices, so I'm a snowbird.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's great it works out very well.
Speaker 1:It's a nice additional feature of our business.
Speaker 2:It really is. We're talking about continuity of care. People request in Florida, request even sometimes travel companions going back and forth. I don't know if it happens a lot, but people need that extra help and I've been at the airport during migration time. I've been at the airport during migration time and I can see caregivers and seniors at the airport getting on those planes going down to South Florida or coming back.
Speaker 1:So that is working for us.
Speaker 2:It's been working for us for over 20 years. That's a unique piece. That I think people often don't realize is that there are people all the way down to South Florida and back.
Speaker 2:Absolutely so. That's great. All right, tell us a little bit more about some of the services that are, I guess, one of the things that people ask often when they call the office. If an adult child of an aging parent calls the office and they're worried about their mom or dad, a lot of times they're wondering if I call the office, what is supposed to happen next? What happens when I call? Do I get to talk to somebody, or what's the process there?
Speaker 1:So let's say I get a call because somebody just knows me, which happens quite frequently, I bet I immediately put them over to the administrator in the right office.
Speaker 1:So if it's someone is their mother is sick and they're in Florida or they're in Ohio or Allentown, I turn that over to the right administrator. I call them myself. Listen, I have a friend. Here's her phone number. Please give her a call immediately, which we call immediately, immediately, which we call immediately. And then from the minute they get that phone call we talk them off the cliff because they don't know what home care is. They really don't understand what our limitations are or not and what can we do for them. And we try and make them very comfortable from phone call one, and many times it's more than one phone call. We get multiple calls because people are scared having someone in their home for the first time taking care of their mother or their father. So we work through that process with compassion and skill and we get the family to trust us just by saying and doing the right things and then we deliver a compassionate caregiver that many times they're so happy and excited. It works out very well for the families.
Speaker 2:That's great, and that's what happens every day, yeah, all day long. That's why I think people who never had this experience before are genuinely worried about what they're diving into, because it's somebody who's going to take care of their mother or their father, and we don't want that to go wrong. So the fact that you have folks that will listen and make sure that the right services are set up and help walk that family through the next steps is amazing.
Speaker 1:And many times, val, we'll take it to another step. They want to meet the caregiver, so we'll send the caregiver with one of my nurses, my administrator. We'll make a house call, no charge. We'll make a house call, make an introduction. That usually makes the family feel very comfortable, above and beyond our competition, that normally if this is a phone call transaction it's not you got to take it when necessary to the next level. We do that every day of the week and that usually creates the comfort level that the family and the patient needs.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. There's no way that you guys could be in business this long and be this successful if you weren't being compassionate and helpful and taking those extra steps that some other agencies just will not do or don't have the staff to do. That is what sets you guys apart is going the extra mile to make sure everyone's okay and comfortable, and I know your administrators are so dedicated and I know that there's always somebody on call. If anybody needs help, there's a hundred percent alive person on call, on call.
Speaker 1:If anybody needs help, there's 100% a live person on call. Our phones are manned 24-7. And I know all the people that take the calls. They've been with the company for years so they know what to do. They know who to turn the phone call over to. We handle it. I don't get very many complaints over my 40 years. Very few.
Speaker 2:It all starts from the top and if you, being the leader that you are, that helps everyone else understand the expectation and how to really be a great home care service company. I agree, thank you very much for that, and what we'll do is make sure that everybody who's watching this knows where all the offices are located and how to get a hold of folks if they need to. So thank you very much.
Speaker 1:Val, thank you. It's been a pleasure to have a nice conversation with you and get to talk about STAR and all the great things that we do for our companies.
