Boston Children's Hospital Ranks #1 in 7 of the 10 Specialties by U.S. News & World Report

BOSTON, June 11, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Boston Children's Hospital ranks first in more specialties than any other pediatric hospital according to the U.S. News & World Report's 2013-14 Best Children's Hospitals report. Boston Children's ranks first in Cardiology & Heart Surgery, Diabetes & Endocrinology, Gastroenterology & GI Surgery, Neonatology, Nephrology, Neurology & Neurosurgery, Urology; second in Cancer; fourth in Pulmonology; and eighth in Orthopedics. Boston Children's partners with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to operate the Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center.

"We're honored to have Boston Children's ranked first in the majority of the following specialties evaluated – it recognizes the depth and breadth of the clinical excellence provided by our extraordinary team of clinicians," says James Mandell, MD, CEO of Boston Children's.

The rankings highlight the top 50 U.S. hospitals in each of these pediatric specialties: Cancer, Cardiology & Heart Surgery, Diabetes & Endocrinology, Gastroenterology & GI Surgery, Neonatology, Nephrology, Neurology & Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Pulmonology, and Urology. Eighty-seven hospitals ranked in at least one of the 10 specialties.

"The rankings reflect a collective effort by our caregivers, researchers, staff and volunteers across Boston Children's community of care network," says Sandra Fenwick, President and COO of Boston Children's. "We're honored by the recognition, but see it as an opportunity to continue innovating and improving the care given to every family we serve."

U.S. News introduced the Best Children's Hospitals rankings to help families of sick children find the best medical care available. The rankings offer families an exclusive look at quality-related information at the individual hospital level.

Each hospital's reputation among doctors was only a small part of what U.S. News factored into its rankings. Three-quarters of each hospital's score was determined through an analysis of patient outcomes and data on the structural resources each hospital has for pediatric care. To gather data, U.S. News used two surveys: a clinical questionnaire sent to 179 pediatric hospitals and, for the reputational assessment, a survey of 150 pediatric specialists and subspecialists in each specialty. The 1,500 physicians were asked where they would send the sickest children in their specialty, setting aside location and expense.

Survival rates, adequacy of nurse staffing, procedure volume and much more can be viewed on http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/pediatric-rankings and will be published in the U.S. News Best Hospitals 2014 guidebook, available beginning in August.

Boston Children's Hospital is home to the world's largest research enterprise based at a pediatric medical center, where its discoveries have benefited both children and adults since 1869. More than 1,100 scientists, including seven members of the National Academy of Sciences, 13 members of the Institute of Medicine and 14 members of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute comprise Boston Children's research community. Founded as a 20-bed hospital for children, Boston Children's today is a 395 bed comprehensive center for pediatric and adolescent health care grounded in the values of excellence in patient care and sensitivity to the complex needs and diversity of children and families. Boston Children's is also the primary pediatric teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. For more information about research and clinical innovation at Boston Children's, visit: http://vectorblog.org.

SOURCE Boston Children's Hospital