Methodology

To calculate this year's rankings, U.S. News partnered with RTI International to collect and analyze data from 108 children's hospitals, as well as survey responses from more than 36,000 pediatric specialists. The hospitals were ranked across 11 pediatric specialties, including:

• Behavioral health
• Cancer
• Cardiology & heart surgery
• Diabetes & endocrinology
• Gastroenterology & GI surgery
•  Neonatology
• Nephrology
• Neurology & neurosurgery
• Orthopedics
• Pulmonology & lung surgery
• Urology

This year's rankings mark the first time U.S. News has ranked hospitals in the pediatric & adolescent behavioral health category.

To determine each hospital's score, U.S. News evaluated how well a facility performed in three areas:

• Structure, which refers to hospital resources that are directly related to patient care
• Process, which includes diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and patient intervention
• Outcomes, which include survival, functional success, and incidence of adverse events

The 'Best Children's Hospitals'

Overall, 88 of the eligible hospitals were ranked among the top 50 in at least one specialty in this year's rankings. The 10 hospitals on the Honor Roll, a distinction awarded to facilities that deliver exceptional care in multiple specialties, are:

• Boston Children's Hospital (Boston, MA)
• Children's Hospital Colorado, Aurora (Aurora, CO)
• Children's Hospital Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA)
• Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, PA)
• Children's National Hospital (Washington, D.C.)
• Cincinnati Children's (Cincinnati, OH)
• Nationwide Children's Hospital (Columbus, OH)
• Rady Children's Hospital (San Diego, CA)
• Seattle Children's Hospital (Seattle, WA)
• Texas Children's Hospital (Houston, TX)

For the inaugural rankings of hospitals in the pediatric & adolescent behavioral health specialty, U.S. News elected to list the top 50 hospitals alphabetically rather than ranking them ordinally, as they did for all the other specialties.

Across the 10 other pediatric specialties, the No. 1 hospital in each was:

• Cancer: Cincinnati Children's
• Cardiology & heart surgery: Texas Children's Hospital
• Diabetes & endocrinology: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
• Gastroenterology & GI surgery: Cincinnati Children's
• Neonatology: Boston Children's Hospital
• Nephrology: Texas Children's Hospital
• Neurology & Neurosurgery: Boston Children's Hospital
• Orthopedics: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
• Pulmonology & lung surgery: Cincinnati Children's
• Urology: Boston Children's Hospital

"When confronted with the daunting task of selecting a hospital for their child's specialized medical needs, parents and caregivers can use U.S. News' evaluation of pediatric hospital performance as a valuable resource," said Ben Harder, chief of health analysis and managing editor at U.S. News.

"This year's inclusion of behavioral health as a new specialty is significant, as one in five U.S. children has a mental, emotional, behavioral, or developmental disorder, according to [HHS]," Harder added. "U.S. News is responding to the growing mental health crisis among America's youth by giving families a valuable source of behavioral health data as part of our increasing comprehensive view of pediatric care." ("Best Children's Hospitals," U.S. News & World Report, 10/8; U.S. News & World Report methodology, 10/8; U.S. News & World Report press release, 10/8)

Inclusion in U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals  rankings can establish a hospital or health system’s prominence in their market and nationally. Many health systems seek to improve their place in the U.S. News rankings, with the ultimate goal of earning a spot on the coveted Honor Roll, which includes the 20 top-scoring hospitals in the United States. In our take, we detail six imperatives that top-performing institutions use to drive their positions in the rankings.