U.S. News & World Report Debuts First Stand-alone Rankings of America's Best Children's Hospitals

Washington/PR Newswire (8/24/2007) - In a further extension of its critically acclaimed "America's Best" series, U.S. News & World Report today unveiled its first stand-alone "America's Best Children's Hospitals" issue, featuring a detailed ranking of the finest pediatric facilities in the United States. The exclusive data will be published in the magazine's September 3 issue, on newsstands Monday, August 27, and is available online today at health.usnews.com/pediatrics.

Topping the 30 hospitals listed for 2007 is Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, followed by Children's Hospital Boston and Baltimore's Johns Hopkins Hospital. While, in the past, pediatric hospitals have been ranked based on reputation alone in the magazine's annual America's Best Hospitals issue, this expanded children's hospital ranking is based not only on reputation, but also on data and statistics about hospital performance and quality of care.

"Since launching our annual rankings of hospitals in 1990, the demand for facilities dedicated to the unique needs of children has changed dramatically," said Avery Comarow, a senior writer with U.S. News & World Report who has been editor of the "America's Best Hospitals" annual rankings since their inception. "Improving the usefulness and relevance of the rankings in this important specialty has been a longstanding goal of the magazine. We hope that parents and caregivers will find this special report helpful when seeking out medical attention for their child."

To be eligible for this year's rankings, a medical facility had to be classified by the National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions (NACHRI) as a freestanding children's hospital or as a children's "hospital within a hospital" -- a large, multidisciplinary pediatric service within a medical center. Of the 122 children's hospitals that met this standard as of March 2007, 113 responded to a U.S. News survey asking for data and statistics on a variety of procedures such as the number of bone marrow transplants and difficult heart operations performed. Thirty of these facilities made the cut as one of "America's Best Children's Hospitals."

While U.S. News's previous pediatric hospital rankings were based on reputation alone, this expanded version is based on a new and improved methodology, which weighed a three-part mix of reputation, death rate, and such care-related factors as volume, nursing care, advanced technology, and recognition by outside organizations. A detailed description of the methodology can be found online at health.usnews.com/pediatrics.

In addition to new ranking information, this editorial package includes the following features:

-- When You Need a Children's Hospital -- A look at when and why parents should push to have a child seen at a premier pediatric medical center -- and how they can identify the one their child needs.

-- Makenna's Heart -- How Texas Children's Hospital gave a four-year-old girl a normal life. Photo essay and story.

About U.S.News & World Report
Founded in 1933, the weekly national news magazine U.S.News & World Report is devoted to reporting and to analyzing national and international affairs, politics, business, health, science, technology and social trends. Through its annual editions of America's Best Colleges, America's Best Graduate Schools, America's Best Hospitals, America's Best Health Plans and America's Best Leaders, as well as its News You Can Use(R) brand, U.S.News has earned a reputation as the leading provider of service news and information that improves the quality of life of its readers. The U.S. News website (www.usnews.com) extends that brand promise and delivers the best, most accurate information online, organized in an easily accessible way.

America's Best Children's Hospitals, 2007 Edition Published by U.S. News & World Report:

1. Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
2. Children's Hospital Boston
3. Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore
4. Children's Hospital, Denver
5. Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, Cleveland
6. Texas Children's Hospital, Houston
7. Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
8. New York-Presbyterian Univ. Hosp. of Columbia and Cornell
9. Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center, Seattle
10. Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Palo Alto, Calif.
11. Children's National Medical Center, Washington, D.C.
12. Columbus Children's Hospital
13. Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC
14. Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
15. St. Louis Children's Hospital
16. UCSF Children's Hospital, San Francisco
17. Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
18. Primary Children's Medical Center, Salt Lake City, Utah
19. Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C.
20. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis
21. Mattel Children's Hospital at UCLA, Los Angeles
22. University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, Ann Arbor
23. Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville
24. Long Island Jewish Medical Center, New Hyde Park, N.Y.
25. Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago
26. Miami Children's Hospital
27. Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, Minneapolis
28. Children's Medical Center Dallas
29. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.
30. Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

SOURCE U.S.News & World Report