Actions were taken by students in the Health Information Student Club (HISC) at Waukesha County Technical College (WCTC) over a year ago to ensure that the proper recognition was given to the hardworking, extremely important, yet often overlooked, profession of medical coding. Those students were successful in their endeavors in that they got Governor Evers to officially proclaim October 3rd, 2022 as Medical Coders Day in Wisconsin.
This year, we are just as excited to announce that Wisconsin Medical Coders Day has been officially proclaimed for 2023 and we will, again, recognize and support medical coders on Oct 3rd!
The HISC students at WCTC not only complete a rigorous medical coding technical diploma program but also participate in medical coding-related activities such as attending conferences and seminars on the subject, and volunteering at the yearly Coding Updates Workshop that WCTC Health Information Technology instructors put on in September (for ICD-10-CM and PCS coding) and in December (for CPT coding). These workshops are attended by local and regional coding professionals to earn continuing education units. All of these activities allow us students to observe, first-hand, how dedicated, intelligent, and hardworking medical coders are.
Medical coding can be an extremely complicated and complex job, and because these jobs are “behind-the-scenes”, they don’t get the same recognition as patient-facing healthcare employees do. No healthcare organization can exist without medical coders so it’s time to say, “We see you and we appreciate you!”
Congratulations and keep up the amazing work!
Sincerely,
Jennifer Striegel
WCTC HIT Student and HISC Vice President
Soon to be RHIT by the start of 2024