Hawai’i Professional Coders Education Fund Educational Opportunities for Hawaii’s Coding Community

Aloha,

After serving Hawaii’s coding community for twenty-one years the Hawaii Professional Coders Education Fund (HPCEF) will be ceasing operations at the end of 2024. The decision was a difficult one and there were many considerations, primarily our commitment to Hawaii’s coding community and to providing educational opportunities for our members. The pandemic changed how the business of healthcare is conducted, as well as how businesses and coders obtain continuing education. As a result, it’s become evident that a small, specialized non-profit organization simply cannot be sustained.

The Hawai’i Professional Coders Education Fund (HPCEF) was established in 2003 as a fund to be used toward scholarships for Hawai’i’s coding community. From 2004 through 2019 HPCEF sponsored an annual Hawaii Coding Conference. These events provided the opportunity for Hawaii’s coders to obtain quality continuing education without incurring travel and the related expense of attending mainland events.

Over twenty-one years HPCEF awarded $31,000 in scholarships. Funds were awarded based on an application of need and recipients were awarded funds to assist with continuing education costs, conference fees and travel expense, membership dues and work-related materials such as coding manuals.

We've enjoyed an amazing partnership with our local chapters. HPCEF has co-sponsored local chapter meetings and donated more than $12,000 toward meeting space, food costs, door prizes and other giveaways. Our mission has always been to provide educational opportunities for our members, whether a local chapter meeting, educational webinars during the pandemic years or sponsoring and organizing sixteen annual coding conferences.

We've had numerous inquiries regarding our popular Hawaii coding conference. While in- person meetings offer irreplaceable personal interaction, virtual meetings offer convenience and accessibility. Our members have adapted to the virtual world as evidenced by attendance at national and regional events as well as local chapter meetings.

The HPCEF team would like to express our gratitude for allowing us to play a part in your professional development. As individuals, the HPCEF team remains committed to our profession and to supporting our local chapters. We look forward to continued friendships for the years to come.

Jeri Leong, R.N., CPC, COC, CPMA, CPC-I
HPCEF Founder and Chair
hpcef2021@gmail.com