Background:Certified Health Information Management (CHIM) professionals are key in data collection which informs stroke care. It was felt that stroke specific professional education would benefit this group.Objectives :To engage CHIM professionals in Stroke specific education to ensure quality data. Methods: Funds were set aside every 2 years for education sessions. Events were delivered in a variety of methods, with input of CHIM mangers and sensitive to workload and staffing. Results: Sessions included the clinical rationale for stroke fields and provided local contacts for stroke. 126 individuals participated in workshops and roundtables. 13 sites registered for the videoconference sessions. Content used in the workshop contributed to a national resource. Participants were asked specific evaluation questions designed to evaluate knowledge translation. Significant increases were found in stroke diagnosis knowledge (P= <0.005) and treatment (P= <0.005) and knowledge of system performance (P= <0.005). 
Discussion: The goal of these initiatives is to ensure quality stroke data. Though hard to measure, the quality of stroke data overall has been improving. There has been a reduction in the number of stroke admissions classified with a nonspecific stroke ICD-10 code. There has been a decrease in the stroke special project fields either left blank or captured as unknown. 
Conclusions: Though not often considered, targeted stroke education to this group of professionals should be included as part of organized stroke care to ensure the best quality data possible. A variety of methods can be utilized, depending on resources and learner needs.

STROKE SPECIFIC CONTINUING EDUCATION FOR HEALTH INFORMATION MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONALS -LONG TERM BENEFITS OF INVESTING IN CODER EDUCATION