Methodology: How We Rank Schools and Report Data

Key takeaway: School lists on this site come from federal data and are ordered by an independent composite score. Partner listings in the program finder are ordered separately and carry Esy’s own sponsored label. Wage and outlook figures are quoted exactly as published by BLS with the survey year.

Which schools appear

A school appears on a state or city page when the U.S. Department of Education’s IPEDS survey shows it reported program completions in the health information, medical insurance coding, or medical billing family, which is the group of program codes (CIP) beginning 51.07. We deliberately exclude schools whose only match is an unrelated information-technology program code, even though some shared datasets map those to billing and coding. No school pays to be on an editorial list, and no school is removed for declining to advertise.

How editorial lists are ordered

Schools with enough published outcome data carry a BOC Score, a 0 to 100 composite built from federal data on graduation rate, graduate earnings, net price, retention, and whether the institution offers online programs, each expressed as a percentile among peer institutions. Schools with a score are ordered by it; schools without enough data follow in alphabetical order and are marked as listed rather than ranked. The score is shared across our sites and recomputed when the underlying federal data updates.

Partner listings

Partner schools appear in the program-finder widgets. Esy labels those ads. Their order within the widget is set by a separate system and may reflect the compensation we receive. They are never mixed into the editorial list.

Wage and outlook data

All pay figures are from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2025, for SOC 29-2072 (Medical Records Specialists), the occupation that includes medical billers and coders. Projections are from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34. We quote the exact published values, state the year, and do not estimate figures BLS does not publish, such as pay by credential or by remote status.

Certification information

Exam content, eligibility, and renewal rules are summarized from the certifying bodies’ published materials and change over time. We link to AAPC, AHIMA, and NHA and tell readers to confirm current details there. We do not quote exam fees.

Corrections

If you find an error, contact us with the page and the source you believe is correct. We check the source and update the page with a new modified date.