Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA Earns Honors From U.S. News & World Report

A huge honor for Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA.

U.S. News & World Report released a list of the best children's hospitals in the country Tuesday, and the hospital ranked in the top 20 nationally in nephrology and orthopedics, and among the top 40 in eight other categories.

"These rankings reflect the quality of care we provide to children in a wide range of medical disciplines and once again place us among the nation's top children's hospitals," said Dr. Sherin Devaskar, physician-in-chief of Mattel Children's Hospital.

"We are especially proud of our nephrology program, which was best among children's hospitals in Southern California, and orthopedics, which placed among the top three on the West Coast."

Children's Hospital Los Angeles made the Top 10.

CHLA tied for seventh-best in the nation with Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. The only other California hospital to rank in the top 10 was Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford in Palo Alto, which tied for 10th with Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

"We are honored to receive this acknowledgement and recognition of CHLA's dedication to providing demonstrably superior clinical care and the work we do to create hope and build healthier futures for every child we treat," said Paul S. Viviano, president/CEO of CHLA.

"U.S. News & World Report has included CHLA among the nation's finest hospitals for children for 27 years, and this unprecedented streak is a credit to the passion, commitment and teamwork exhibited by our physicians, nurses, clinical staff and employees, all of whom strive each day to provide the best care to our patients and their families," Viviano continued.

The magazine — which publishes some of the most respected rankings on schools, hospitals, jobs and more — used data from a clinical survey of 183 hospitals along with a survey of pediatric specialists and sub-specialists. It then ranked the hospitals across 10 specialties — such as cancer and orthopedics — based on these three factors, weighted equally:

• "Clinical outcomes," such as cancer survival and infection rates
• "Efficient coordination of care," or how well the hospital complies with industry best practices
• "Sufficient care-related resources," such as having adequate staff and programs for certain conditions

Explore the full children's hospital rankings, including by specialty, here.

-- Marc Torrence, Patch and City News Service contributed to this report