U.S. News & World Report on Tuesday released its "Best Children's Hospitals" rankings for 2022, 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.

Methodology

For the 16th annual "Best Children's Hospitals" rankings, 119 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
• Urology

For the rankings, U.S. News used data collected through surveys sent to 198 hospitals and thousands of pediatric doctors around the country.

The surveys were administered and analyzed by research and consulting firm RTI International. Over 100 pediatric medical experts gave their input on what information to gather and how to analyze the data.

The publication based its hospital scores on how well a facility performed in three broad measures of quality:

• Clinical outcomes: For example, maximizing survival rates after complex surgeries, minimizing complications from kidney biopsies, and preventing infections in the NICU.
• Efficient coordination of care: For example, compliance with best practices, and a demonstrated commitment to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion among staff and patients.
• Providing care-related resources: For example, maintaining adequate nursing staff and designing outpatient programs that target specific conditions.

Each of these three measures determined roughly 33% of a hospital's score for each specialty.

The results from the survey of pediatric specialists contributed up to 13% of a hospital's score, depending on the specialty. In the survey, doctors were asked to name up to 10 hospitals they consider the best in their specialty for children who have serious or difficult medical problems. This year, over 5,000 physicians responded. U.S. News combined their responses with those from similar surveys conducted in 2021 and 2020.

Overall, U.S. News recognized 90 hospitals in this year's rankings.

The 'Best Children's Hospitals'

U.S. News named 10 hospitals to its Honor Roll, which denotes the 10 hospitals that garnered points for being highly ranked in multiple specialties. 

The Honor Roll includes:

1. Boston Children's Hospital (Boston, MA)

2. Texas Children's Hospital (Houston, TX)

3. Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (Cincinnati, OH)

4. Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, PA)

5. Children's National Hospital (Washington, DC)

6. UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, PA)

7. Children's Hospital Colorado (Aurora, CO)

8. Children's Hospital Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA)

9. Nationwide Children's Hospital (Columbus, OH)

10. Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford (Palo Alto, CA)

This is the ninth 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 is Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Boston Children's Hospital
• Pediatric Cardiology and Heart Surgery is Texas Children's Hospital
• Pediatric Diabetes and Endocrinology is Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
• Pediatric Gastroenterology and GI surgery is Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
• Neonatology is Children's National Hospital
• Pediatric Nephrology is Boston Children's Hospital
• Pediatric Neurology & Neurosurgery is Boston Children's Hospital
• Pediatric Orthopedics is Boston Children's Hospital
• Pediatric Pulmonology & Lung Surgery is Texas Children's Hospital
• Pediatric Urology is Boston Children's Hospital

("Best Children's Hospitals," U.S. News & World Report, 6/14; Harder, U.S. News & World Report methodology, 6/14; Fulton, USA Today, 6/14; Gooch, Becker's Hospital Review, 6/14)