Demand for Higher Quality In-Home Care Drives BrightStar Care to its 300th Franchise

01 Dic 2016, 15:52 PM EST

Delivery of Person-Centered Care, RN Oversight Drives Steadfast
Growth of International Franchise

CHICAGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–BrightStar Care has opened its milestone 300^th franchise
location by partnering with a former corporate executive turned
BrightStar Care franchisee, who shares the same personal journey for the
need of a higher standard of in-home care with the CEO and founder of
BrightStar Care, Shelly Sun.

In 2002, Shelly Sun left her corporate job to create BrightStar
Care, an in-home care company committed to providing a higher level
of care she could not find when searching for trusted homecare
professionals to take care of a family member. In 2005, she decided to
franchise the concept, and the first franchise location opened in 2006.

Flash forward 10 years and 299 locations later, Chicagoland native Gary
Ratkiewicz, a former corporate executive for two publicly traded
companies, sought a business opportunity in the healthcare industry
after experiences involving a need for end-of-life-care for his parents
and a son. Witnessing the compassion that the care teams brought to his
loved ones, coupled with the positive benefits they brought to his
family, Ratkiewicz was moved to pursue franchise opportunities in the
healthcare industry. After conducting research, he felt BrightStar Care
stood out from the pack, meeting the highest standards of care with its
registered nurses who provide oversight and create unique plans of care
for clients, its team of trained caregivers and overall culture of
compassionate, person-centered care. Ratkiewicz owns and operates two
franchise locations in Tinley Park, Illinois.

“When I decided to franchise BrightStar Care, the vision was to elevate
the standards of in-home care for families across the country,” said
Shelly Sun, CEO and Founder of BrightStar Care. “It’s hard to believe
that just 10 years after opening our first franchise location, there are
now 300 locations delivering on that mission. The fact that Gary’s
reasons for joining our franchise system matched the original
motivations for founding the company — and that it’s in the Chicagoland
area where we started — makes the milestone location even more
meaningful.”

Over the past 10 years, the BrightStar Care franchise system has
provided 70 million hours of service to more than 250,000 families,
reached nearly $400 million in revenue, employed more than 100,000
nurses and caregivers, expanded to 38 states and Canada, and has
established itself as the industry leader in clinical standards.

“BrightStar Care’s tremendous growth speaks volumes about the company’s
model,” Ratkiewicz said. “They place a significant emphasis on quality
and personalized care and have a consistent model that franchisees are
able to replicate for their own clients. These are just a few factors
that truly set BrightStar Care apart from other home care providers and
franchises, and why I believe it will continue to grow at a healthy rate
in the future.”

Another factor that sets BrightStar Care apart from other in-home care
agencies is a requirement for franchises to obtain and maintain Joint
Commission Accreditation. The Joint Commission is an internationally
recognized healthcare-quality organization with rigorous standards.
Recently, The Joint Commission recognized BrightStar Care as an
Enterprise Champion for Quality because more than 95% of its locations
have earned Joint Commission Accreditation. BrightStar Care is the only
organization to achieve this designation four years in a row.

In addition to steady growth domestically, BrightStar Care recently
inked its first international master franchise agreement to expand into
Canada, with 65 BrightStar Care locations expected to be developed
across all 10 provinces within the next five years. BrightStar Care also
has plans for continued growth at home, as the in-home care franchise
expects to open 50 more units across the U.S. by year’s end.

For more information, visit www.brightstarcare.com.

About BrightStar Care

Based in Chicago, BrightStar Care is a national private duty home care
and medical staffing franchise with more than 300 locations which
provide medical and non-medical services to clients within their homes,
as well as supplemental care staff to corporate clients. BrightStar Care
franchise locations across the country employ over 2,500 registered
nurses who play a unique role in overseeing the care for each individual
client, a service that no other private duty home care provider offers.
In addition, BrightStar Care is the only national home care franchise to
receive The Joint Commission’s Enterprise Champion for Quality award
every year since the award’s inception. In 2015, the company ranked No.
177 on Entrepreneur Magazine’s Franchise 500 list, No. 27 on Crain’s
Chicago “Fast Fifty,” ranking and was included for the tenth consecutive
year on Inc. Magazine’s prestigious Inc. 5000 list. For more information
on BrightStar Care please visit www.brightstarcare.com;
to find out more about BrightStar Franchising, visit www.franchise.brightstarcare.com.