U.S. News releases this year's list of best children's hospitals

U.S. News & World Report has released its 2014-15 ranking of the nation's best children's hospitals.

The publication ranks the 50 highest-performing children's hospitals in 10 specialties: cancer; neonatology; orthopedics; cardiology & heart surgery; nephrology; pulmonology; diabetes & endocrinology; neurology & neurosurgery; urology; and gastroenterology & GI surgery.

Hospitals with high scores in three or more specialties were ranked in U.S. News' Honor Roll. The top 10 Honor Roll hospitals were:

  1. Boston Children's Hospital

  2. Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

  3. Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

  4. Texas Children's Hospital, Houston

  5. Children's Hospital Los Angeles

  6. Children's Hospital Colorado, Aurora

  7. Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio

  8. Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago

  9. Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC

  10. Johns Hopkins Children's Center, Baltimore

U.S. News based the rankings on a clinical survey it sent to selected hospitals and a reputational survey distributed to pediatric specialists and subspecialists. Of the 183 hospitals sent a survey, 116 responded with enough data to be evaluated, of which 89 ranked in one specialty or more.

"Whether a hospital was ranked, and if so how high, depended on its performance in three areas: clinical outcomes such as cancer survival and rates of various infections; efficiency and coordination of care delivery, which included reputational survey results, compliance with 'best practices' and steps to control infection; and care-related resources such as adequate nursing staff and availability of programs tailored to particular illnesses and conditions," according to the announcement from U.S. News.  "Each of the three major areas contributed one-third of a hospital's score."

To learn more:
- here are the overall rankings
- check out the Honor Roll
- read the announcement