List of best children’s hospitals expands to include regional rankings

Boston Children’s Hospital was named Tuesday as the best children’s hospital in the United States for the eighth consecutive year by U.S. News & World Report, which expanded its annual list this year to include state and regional rankings.

Ben Harder

“When choosing a hospital for a sick child, many parents want specialized expertise, convenience and caring medical professionals,” Ben Harder, managing editor and chief of health analysis for U.S. News & World Report, said in a news release announcing the rankings.

“The Best Children's Hospitals rankings have always highlighted hospitals that excel in specialized care,” Harder said. “Now, this year's new state and regional rankings can help families identify conveniently located hospitals capable of meeting their child’s needs. As the pandemic continues to affect travel, finding high-quality care close to home has never been more important.”

The rankings compare hospitals in overall performances across specialties and also in targeted areas of care. To be ranked regionally, a hospital must rank well in at least one pediatric specialty and offer general pediatric services.

In addition to holding the top national spot, Boston Children’s Hospital also was ranked as the top children’s hospital in New England. The other top-ranked hospitals in their region were The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (Mid-Atlantic), Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (Midwest), Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (Pacific), Children’s Hospital Colorado (Rocky Mountains), Texas Children’s Hospital (Southwest) and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, which tied for the top spot in the Southeast.

Ten hospitals earned a spot on the “honor roll,” which is awarded to pediatric centers that deliver “exceptionally high-quality care across multiple specialties”:

1. Boston Children’s Hospital
2. The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
3. Texas Children’s Hospital
4. Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
5. Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
6. Children’s Hospital Colorado
7. Children’s National Hospital
8. Nationwide Children’s Hospital
9. UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
10. Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford

The top 50 pediatric centers were ranked for 10 specialties — cancer, cardiology and heart surgery, diabetes and endocrinology, gastroenterology and gastrointestinal surgery, neonatology, nephrology, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopedics, pulmonology and lung surgery and urology.

Boston Children’s Hospital ranked tops in care among four of the specialties — nephrology, neurology and neurosurgery, pulmonology and lung surgery and urology. Other hospitals that received top rankings were The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (pediatric cancer, diabetes and endocrinology, and orthopedics), Children’s National Hospital (neonatology), Texas Children’s Hospital (cardiology and heart surgery), and Children’s Hospital Colorado (gastroenterology and gastrointestinal surgery).