U.S. News & World Report on Tuesday released its "Best Children's Hospitals" rankings for 2020, naming the 10 best children's hospitals in the country as well as the top 50 children's hospitals in each of 10 pediatric specialties.

Cheat sheet: How US News selects its Best Children's Hospitals

Methodology

For the 14th annual "Best Children's Hospitals" rankings, researchers surveyed 193 facilities. According to U.S. News, 118 facilities submitted sufficient data to be considered for ranking in at least one of the 10 assessed specialties, which are:

• Cancer;
• Cardiology & heart surgery;
• Diabetes & endocrinology;
• Gastroenterology & GI surgery;
• Neonatology;
• Nephrology;
• Neurology & neurosurgery;
• Orthopedics;
• Pulmonology & lung surgery; and
• Urology.

The publication based its hospital scores on:

• Outcomes data—including survival, infections, and surgical complications—which accounted for 33.3% of the overall score in every specialty except cardiology/heart surgery, for which it accounted for 38.3%;
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• Structure, meaning resources related directly to patient care, such as specialized clinics and nurse-patient ratios, which accounted for 33.3% of the overall score in every specialty;
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• The hospital's reputation among experts, based on a survey of pediatric specialists and subspecialists, which accounted for 15% of the overall score in every specialty except cardiology/heart surgery, for which reputation accounted for 8.5% of the score;
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• The hospital's adherence to best practices within specialties, which accounted for 9.2% of the score in every specialty except cardiology, for which it accounted for 9.9%; and
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• Infection prevention, which accounted for 9.2% of the score in every specialty except cardiology, for which it accounted for 9.9%.

Overall, U.S. News recognized 88 hospitals in this year's rankings.

The Best Children's Hospitals

U.S. News named 10 hospitals to its Honor Roll, which denotes "pediatric centers that deliver exceptionally high-quality care across multiple specialties."

The Honor Roll includes:

1. Boston Children's Hospital (Boston);
2. Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (Philadelphia);
3. Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (Cincinnati);
4. Texas Children's Hospital (Houston);
5. Children's Hospital Los Angeles (Los Angeles);
6. Children's Hospital Colorado (Aurora, Colorado);
7. Children's National Hospital (Washington, D.C.);
8. Nationwide Children's Hospital (Columbus, Ohio);
9. UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania); and
10. Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford (Palo Alto, California).

This is the seventh consecutive year that Boston Children's has taken the top spot on the honor roll.

Across U.S. News' 10 specialty rankings, the No. 1 children's hospital for:

• Pediatric cancer, for diabetes/endocrinology, and for orthopedics is Children's Hospital of Philadelphia;
• Pediatric cardiology/heart surgery is Texas Children's Hospital;
• Gastroenterology/GI surgery is Children's Hospital Colorado;
• Pediatric neonatology is Children's National Hospital; and
• Pediatric nephrology, neurology/neurosurgery, urology, and pulmonology and lung surgery is Boston Children's Hospital (U.S. News & World Report release, 6/16; "Best Children's Hospitals," U.S. News & World Report, 6/16; U.S. News & World Report methodology, accessed 6/16).