I had the pleasure of speaking with Penny Hankins, MS, RHIT the current President of RRHIMA.
Penny is a senior medical records coder at the University of Rochester (URMC). Penny holds a RHIT credential and has been coding for two years. Penny codes Home Health Care and Ophthalmology cases. She enjoys her career at URMC and likes that they are an educational institution.
Penny attended Monroe Community College; she was in the second to last class to graduate because it was announced that the Health Information Management (HIM) program was ending. She was in the middle of the second semester when COVID-19 started and had to finish the rest of her degree online. Penny enjoyed working with her professors and still keeps in touch with them.
Penny was in website design for 20 years before she decided to look for a different career path. She took medical terminology class years ago, and it stuck with her. When looking at Monroe College, she saw that an externship was offered, and because she enjoyed the Medical Terminology course, she decided that Health Information Management (HIM) was the field she wanted to be in.
In Penny’s free time, she enjoys watching sports; she specifically enjoys watching tennis, football, baseball, and basketball. Her favorite team is the Chicago Bears since she is from Illinois. Her favorite baseball team is the St. Louis Cardinals. Her father was from Missouri.
Penny is a volunteer for RRHIMA and The Geneva Women’s Assembly. Penny has run the “Peoples Free Pop Up” for four years. The Peoples Free Pop-Up is a clothing giveaway. They collect clothes for the community and then “pop up” at grocery stores, parks, etc. They set up tables and have racks of clothing for the community. The motto is “Share what you have and take what you want.”
Penny would advise any students considering Health Information Management (HIM) as a career path to do it. A Health Information Management (HIM) career path has steady and highly skilled employment. Health Information Management (HIM) is a two-year program and can provide an excellent-paying job with benefits. Penny feels that by working in the Health Information Management (HIM) profession, you are giving back to the community by giving back to the patients.
Penny is currently looking at attending webinars on ICD-11 to get ahead of the changes.
