Day 1 | Wednesday, September 24
10:00 am - 10:30 am
Check-In Opens & Coffee
10:30 am - 10:45 am
Exchange Orientation & Icebreaker
10:45 am - 11:15 am
CMP Research Briefing | The Chatbot Reboot: Smarter Self-Service Starts Here
Brooke Lynch -
Divisional Director of Digital,
Customer Management Practice
Customer demand for digital and self-service is growing—but customer satisfaction in these channels continues to lag, limiting adoption. Generative and agentic chatbots offer new promise for improving automated chat experiences, but with a crowded vendor landscape, how do you choose the right solution?
In this session, CMP Research will reveal the results of its latest Prism Analysis—a fit-for-purpose technology assessment framework designed for CX and customer contact leaders. You’ll walk away with key takeaways from market trends, analyst evaluations, and user feedback—giving you a clear view of how leading chatbot and virtual agent providers compare.
11:15 am - 12:00 pm
Windy City Welcome Lunch
12:00 pm - 12:30 pm
Lead with Impact | From the Boardroom to the Frontlines: Rebuilding Patient Access with Purpose & Culture
Joan Pendergast Cox -
Chief Experience Officer,
LifeBridge Health
Patient access and experience challenges go far beyond restrictive schedules and inefficient self-service – they often reflect a deeper disconnect between executive priorities and frontline realities. It is paramount to foster a people-first approach to patient access that transforms both patient experience and workforce culture and engagement. Drawing from system-wide initiatives that reconnected frontline staff to their “why,” we’ll learn how cultural alignment, data analysis, and operational design must work hand-in-hand to deliver care that centers the patient and staff.
- Align patient access strategy with the purpose and engagement of frontline staff.
- Meaningful data interpretation – beyond dashboards and reports.
- Bridge the gap between executive priorities and day-to-day challenges and needs for frontline workers.
- Shifting from provider-centered design to models that reflect real patient lives.
12:30 pm - 2:00 pm
Business Meetings
2:00 pm - 2:15 pm
Comfort Break
A sea change shift now exists in patient communications through mobile messaging. Rich Communications Services (RCS)—which is replacing SMS—combined with AI and Natural Language Understanding, have totally changed what it means to “send a text.” Messages received in the standard text inbox today are no longer just words that are read—they are fully AI interactive, rich media enabled app and web-like experiences. These new technologies applied to the myriad uses for patient interaction are causing fundamental changes in where and how we communicate with patients.
Sponsored by: Sinch
In this session, we’ll cut through the AI noise and focus on what’s really happening today: what analysts are predicting, where companies are seeing results, and how AI is reshaping key performance metrics. You’ll hear how industries from healthcare to retail are using AI to automate routine interactions, reduce operational costs, and free up staff for higher-value work. We’ll take a look at the call center KPIs of tomorrow and share practical insights on what it takes to drive measurable outcomes in your organization.
Sponsored by: Five9
2:45 pm - 2:55 pm
Comfort Break
2:55 pm - 3:10 pm
Quickfire Spotlight | Real Stories, Real Results
James Brown -
Messaging Relationships – Apple & Google,
First Class Connection
In this fast-paced, TED-style session, join one of our featured solution providers as they take the stage for a sharp, focused 8–10 minute talk that highlights a real CX challenge - and the solution that made a measurable impact. Clear, concise, and results-driven.
Sponsored by: First Class Connection
3:10 pm - 3:40 pm
Expert Insights Panel | Transforming Patient Access Through CCaaS: Insights Across the Journey
Jeremy Stroud -
VP Patient Services,
Heartland Dental
Jasmine Garcia - Director of Quality Support, UCLA Health
Brooke Lynch - Divisional Director of Digital, Customer Management Practice
Implementing a cloud contact center (CCaaS) in healthcare is about more than technology—it’s a strategic opportunity to redefine how patients access care. In this session, leaders at different stages of the CCaaS journey will share their experiences, from shaping early-stage adoption to measuring the impact of fully implemented systems.
Key Focus Areas:
- Defining a patient-access vision and aligning it with organizational goals
- Sourcing & partnering effectively with technology vendors and service providers
- Overcoming operational and cultural challenges during adoption
- Leveraging data to drive measurable improvements in patient experience and contact center performance
Whether you’re exploring CCaaS, implementing it, or optimizing a live system, this session offers actionable guidance for delivering better access, outcomes, and experiences.
3:30 pm - 4:00 pm
Networking Break
4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Business Meetings
5:00 pm - 5:30 pm
Keynote | Why Digital Accessibility is Critical to the Patient & Customer Experience
Stephen Framil -
Corporate Global Head of Accessibility,
Merck & Co
With the post-pandemic rise of the digital patient, the expectations for a seamless omnichannel customer experience continue to accelerate. Consumer market driven adoption of wearables, smartphone apps, and social media-based disease support groups have started to alter what patients expect from the health care industry. Given that many patients have comorbidities and disabilities, digital accessibility standards are critical for inclusivity and providing equal access to the digital content – whether it be clinical trial e-diaries, vaccination scheduling applications, digital health solutions and personalized drug delivery systems, or informational disease awareness websites. Explore the WHY, WHAT, and HOW digital accessibility is critical to the patient and customer experience.
- WHY: disability inclusion in health equity
- WHAT: digital patient ecosystem
- HOW: inclusive design standards
The Quintuple Goal in Healthcare is often used as a high level north star by healthcare organizations. How can patient engagement technologies such as Amazon Connect be used to achieve those goals? This session will provide an opportunity to learn from Amazon, who strives to be the world’s most customer obsessed company. There will also be an opportunity for attendees to discuss the patient engagement challenges and how it trickles down to each of these north star quintuple goals.
Sponsored by: Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Healthcare organizations face unique challenges when it comes to patient and member support—fluctuating demand during open enrollment, seasonal surges, and unpredictable call spikes tied to regulatory changes or public health events. Balancing cost efficiency, compliance, and high-touch care is no small task. This session explores how flexible staffing, precision scheduling, and innovative sourcing models can help healthcare leaders maintain patient trust, improve outcomes, and manage variability without sacrificing quality.
Takeaways:
- How leading healthcare organizations are addressing spikes in patient/member support demand
- Ways to leverage flexible, on-demand staffing models while safeguarding compliance and quality
- The role of technology in aligning coverage with real-time patient needs
- Strategies to improve patient satisfaction and reduce operational costs simultaneously
