Perhaps to avoid an argument about who’s best, US News and World Report this year listed an unnumbered top-ten list of “best” children’s hospitals.
To get the bragging out of the way, they are (in alphabetical order): Children’s Hospital of Denver, Children’s Hospital Boston, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Children’s Medical Center of Dallas, the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital medical center, Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore, Morgan Stanley NewYork-Presbyterian Children’s Hospital, St. Louis Children’s Hospital at Washington university, and Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston.
The complicated methodology looked for excellence in 10 different specialties: cancer, diabetes/endocrine disorders, digestive disorders, heart and heart surgery, kidney disorders, neonatal care, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopedics, respiratory disorders, and urology. All ten hospitals on the list were ranked in all ten categories.
Needless to say, not being included on the list is no sign that a hospital does not offer excellent care. Of the 56 medical centers ranked, over half placed in the top ten in at least one specialty. Those top-ten runners-up are:
St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital of Memphis
Seattle Children’s Hospital
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center of New York
USCF Children’s Hospital of San Francisco
Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
Nationwide Children’s Hospital of Columbus, Ohio
Matter Children’s Hospital UCLA
Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin
Massachusetts General Hospital for Children of Boston
Holtz Children’s Hospital at UM-Jackson Memorial Hospital of Miami
Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital of Cleveland
Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford, Calif.
Children’s National Medical Center of Washington, DC
Primary Children’s Medical Center of Salt Lake City
Children’s Medical Center—Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children of Dallas
Rady Children’s Hospital of San Diego
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
Riley Hospital for Children Clarian Health Partners of Indianapolis
Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, in Nashville