CyraCom is proud to partner with hospitals and health systems leading the way in caring for limited-English proficient (LEP) patients – systems like Lee Health. We recently sat down with Yemisi Oloruntola-Coates, Lee’s System Director of Diversity and Patient Care Civil Rights. Ms. Yemisi was eager to share her insights on a number of topics relevant to language services leaders today, including the process of implementing a quality language services partner.
1. Compare Options and Seek out a Quality Partner
Factors like interpreter training and certification, location, and work environment may impact the quality of interpretation received. The Department of Justice has weighed in, recommending that hospitals verify prospective partners’ “quality control plans, cost and availability schedules, staff training, regular vendor reporting, and detailed guidance on interpreter qualifications.” They also encourage providers to “prioritize merit over price whenever possible.”
In 2008, Lee held a vendor fair to choose a new language services provider. “We invited CyraCom and one of their competitors to let our staff sample the service,” Ms. Yemisi recalled. “We let them try both options, and overwhelmingly they loved CyraCom.”
She noted that since the switch, Lee has valued CyraCom’s focus on healthcare, dedicated account management, and the efforts of CyraCom’s implementation unit.
2. Choose a Language Services Provider with Expertise in Implementation
Hospital leaders have enough to do without taking on the details of a large-scale language services implementation. A quality language services partner should be equipped to handle the bulk of the implementation work for you.
“When we signed up, we had just acquired two hospitals and were building a third,” Ms. Yemisi said. “We're a large system and I didn’t have the resources to do such a big roll-out. I had just taken the job, and it was a lot to handle.”
“CyraCom was an integral part of the process and has been throughout the years. I remember the Implementation Director walking the halls helping us get started,” she continued. “It's been wonderful to partner with CyraCom on two major rollouts – they’re very loyal to their hospital partners, with real customer focus and a hands-on approach. That's what I was looking for, and I didn't see it anywhere else.”
3. Emphasize Staff Training During Implementation to Ensure Staff Adoption and Compliance
Even the highest-quality language services partnership is only as good as your staff’s ability and willingness to use it. Your interpretation provider should be equipped to train your staff to use the service quickly upon implementation.
When Lee received a government grant to purchase video carts and implement CyraCom’s video interpretation service, they wanted to ensure staff could use the new resource effectively.
“I notified our campuses that this resource was coming and scheduled multiple 30-minute-training times at each campus so staff could come in when convenient,” Ms. Yemisi explained. “We tracked attendance at each training and handed out collateral on video interpretation.”
CyraCom’s implementation team led the training sessions, explaining the benefits and mechanics of using video interpretation.
“After the roll-out, we followed up by attending every meeting we could get into - leadership, quality gatherings, and nursing orientation - and did in-service training unit-by-unit to ensure everyone got the message,” Ms. Yemisi recalled. “We trained over 600 leaders, directors, supervisors, trainers, and RNs during that first phase.”
Once Lee’s hospital staff was trained, CyraCom moved on to Lee Physician Group doctors’ offices spread throughout Florida. Ms. Yemisi divided these offices by region and sent CyraCom trainers through three different counties. In total, CyraCom trained 1,300 Lee staff members in 30 days.
Now that you’ve read about Lee Health’s implementation process, download our full case study to learn more about the challenges of caring for LEP populations, and how Lee is partnering with CyraCom to overcome them.
