User Summit Overview: A Successful Event We Plan on Repeating!
We came. We learned. We conquered.
On October 15, 16, and 17, over 60 CyraCom users from all over the nation gathered together for the first ever Healthcare Language Services Summit presented by CyraCom. This conference took place at the beautiful Arizona Biltmore Resort in Phoenix, Arizona, a Frank-Lloyd Wright-inspired luxury resort that feels like something straight out of the 1920s. With seven pools, two golf courses, spa, gym, tennis courts, unique and a full-featured conference center, the premises were large, fun, and welcoming. The weather only added to the beauty of the weekend, keeping attendees at a warm 85 degrees throughout the week.
Now, on to the learning sessions: Day One began in the afternoon with Victor Collazo, CyraCom’s ASL Operations Manager, who provided a lively session on tips for working with the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community. Participants had a wealth of questions for him as hospitals were eager to continue improving their services for ASL speakers. Next, Annabelle Romero walked everyone through CyraCom’s Online Account Management Portal in detail, showing how to use every available feature. Lastly, Implementation Specialists Peter Lee and Landon Knoche provided a casual demonstration of the CyraCom VRI experience, both through the laptop and iPad solutions. Participants were invited to come up after the session to use the CyraCom Interpreter app for themselves. Dinner that night was in the famous Aztec Room where everyone got the chance to eat, network, and enjoy themselves.
Day Two started with Austin Wade, CyraCom’s VP of Client Satisfaction, who praised attendees for being the real heroes in the language services industry. Keynote speaker Dr. Richard Carmona, 17th Surgeon General of the United States, motivated everyone with first-hand information on the ACA, health literacy movements, and how to encourage patient quality and safety in hospitals. The story of how he went from high school drop out to Surgeon General had the entire audience in a standing ovation by the time he was finished. Tony Burke, the CEO of AHA Solutions, walked everyone through major drivers in healthcare and how this will affect hospital changes. Dr. Tina Cordero from the Joint Commission presented all new data on recent JC audits as well as tips for how to improve compliance in the future.
After lunch, Lori Marshall from Children’s Hospital in LA highlighted the details of her in-depth research on when to use OPI, VRI, and in-person interpreters. Matilde Roman from NYCHHC left a few teary eyes with her passionate presentation on what it takes to help LEP patients in one of the most diverse cities in the world, New York City. Finally, Theresa Jones and Ibzan Monteagudo from Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare illustrated how they use data to track cost-per-patient-encounter, encourage staff and physician engagement, and reduce the cost of their language services programs each year while providing more services.
Our audience was so engaged in each of these talks by participating and asking questions that we actually had to cut the final language services question panel due to time constraints. CyraCom CEO Jeremy Woan wrapped up the sessions with inspirational words on how CyraCom got to where it is now, where the company needs to go in the future, and how it promises to be a great partner to hospitals along the way.
On the last day, participants took a brief bus ride to CyraCom’s Phoenix Interpreter Contact Center for a comprehensive tour. Groups were given an in-depth look at our interpreter operations, robust training classes, quality assurance processes, workforce management software, and client services team. Overall, everyone was impressed by the magnitude of the center and how that translates to high quality service for them.
Feedback from the Summit has highly positive. We’ve heard from all of the attendees and the consensus is that the speakers were excellent and the chance to meet other professionals in their industry was extremely beneficial. The topics they covered and tips they gave really hit home with all of the language services staff in attendance. People got to network, learn, ask questions, and help plan for the future of their language services programs. A few folks even said that this was the best language services event they had ever been to. With feedback like this, we’re proud to announce that we will indeed be hosting another User Event next year. (Hint – it will be even bigger and better in 2015).
So, if you attended this year’s Healthcare Language Services Summit, thanks very much for coming. We truly hope you enjoyed it. If you didn’t attend this year’s Summit, then we will definitely see you in 2015!
