Here Are California’s Best Children's Hospitals: U.S. News

CALIFORNIA – U.S. News & World Report says eight children’s hospitals in California are among the best in the country across numerous pediatric specialties. The news organization released its 12th annual “Best Children’s Hospitals” rankings Tuesday.

The rankings looked at 10 pediatric specialties: cancer; cardiology and heart surgery; diabetes and endocrinology; gastroenterology and gastrointestinal surgery; neonatology; nephrology; neurology and neurosurgerys; orthopedics; pulmonology; and urology.

In Los Angeles, Children's Hospital was highlighted on the "Honor Roll," listed among the Top 10 in the U.S.

UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital in Los Angeles, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford in Palo Alto, Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego, UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals in San Francisco and Oakland, CHOC Children's Hospital in Orange, University of California Davis Children's Hospital in Sacramento and Valley Children's Healthcare and Hospital in Madera all made the list.

Here’s how they ranked:

Children's Hospital Los Angeles

• Total specialties ranked: 10
• Cancer: Rank 9
• Cardiology & Heart Surgery: Rank 5
• Diabetes & Endocrinology: Rank 5
• Gastroenterology & GI Surgery: Rank 5
• Neonatology: Rank 14
• Nephrology: Rank 18
• Neurology & Neurosurgery: Rank 9
• Orthopedics: Rank 5
• Pulmonology: Rank
• Urology: Rank 11

Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford, Palo Alto

• Total specialties ranked: 10
  • Cancer: Rank 21
  • Cardiology & Heart Surgery: Rank 17
  • Diabetes & Endocrinology: Rank 13
  • Gastroenterology & GI Surgery: Rank 27
  • Neonatology: Rank 30
  • Nephrology: Rank 9
  • Neurology & Neurosurgery: Rank 20
  • Orthopedics: Rank 49
  • Pulmonology: Rank 11
  • Urology: Rank 34

Rady Children's Hospital, San Diego

• Total specialties ranked: 10
  • Cancer: Rank 30
  • Cardiology & Heart Surgery: Rank 25
  • Diabetes & Endocrinology: Rank 26
  • Gastroenterology & GI Surgery: Rank 22
  • Neonatology: Rank 12
  • Nephrology: Rank 34
  • Neurology & Neurosurgery: Rank 22
  • Orthopedics: Rank 7
  • Pulmonology: Rank 25
  • Urology: Rank 18

UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals, San Francisco and Oakland

• Total specialties ranked: 10
  • Cancer: Rank 13
  • Cardiology & Heart Surgery: Rank 34
  • Diabetes & Endocrinology: Rank 10
  • Gastroenterology & GI Surgery: Rank 18
  • Neonatology: Rank 7
  • Nephrology: Rank 14
  • Neurology & Neurosurgery: Rank 19
  • Orthopedics: Rank 47
  • Pulmonology: Rank 18
  • Urology: Rank 25

UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital, Los Angeles

• Total specialties ranked: 8
  • Cancer: Rank 36
  • Cardiology & Heart Surgery: Rank 47
  • Gastroenterology & GI Surgery: Rank 34
  • Neonatology: Rank 48
  • Nephrology: Rank 12
  • Neurology & Neurosurgery: Rank 23
  • Orthopedics: Rank 17
  • Urology: Rank 40

CHOC Children's Hospital, Orange

• Total specialties ranked: 6
  • Cancer: Rank 50
  • Neonatology: Rank 21
  • Neurology & Neurosurgery: Rank 39
  • Orthopedics: Rank 45
  • Pulmonology: Rank 42
  • Urology: Rank 20

University of California Davis Children's Hospital, Sacramento (Orthopedics & Urology: with Shriners Hospitals for Children-Northern California, Sacramento)

• Total specialties ranked: 5
  • Neonatology: Rank 26
  • Nephrology: Rank 35
  • Orthopedics: Rank 37
  • Pulmonology: Rank 44
  • Urology: Rank 49

Valley Children's Healthcare and Hospital, Madera

• Total specialties ranked: 4
  • Diabetes & Endocrinology: Rank 44
  • Gastroenterology & GI Surgery: Rank 46
  • Neonatology: Rank 33
  • Orthopedics: Rank 33

Ben Harder, chief of health analysis at U.S. News, told Patch the rankings are designed with parents and young patients in mind. Families can make better decisions by having access to what the authors called the “most comprehensive data” available in addition to their doctors’ advice.

“There are hundreds if not thousands of hospitals in the country that take care of kids from time to time,” Harder said. “But there are only a couple hundred that really specialize in taking care of sick kids.”

These rankings are intended to aid families with young patients suffering from “particularly challenging” medical diagnoses and who need an “extra level of care,” he said. “This includes pediatric cancer, a heart defect, a complicated fracture or a birth defect. The rankings highlight which hospital has the best experience, capabilities, teams and track records in achieving “good outcomes” for young patients.

Most families do not need a top hospital most of the time, he said.

“There are hundreds of hospitals that can treat run-of-the-mill stuff like a sprained ankle or managing asthma,” said Harder.

Ten hospitals earned a place on the U.S. News report’s so-called “Honor Roll,” which recognizes pediatric centers that provide “exceptionally high-quality care” across multiple specialties. Boston Children’s Hospital topped that list again, ranking first overall in three different specialties: neurology and neurosurgery, nephrology and orthopedics.

Honor Roll

1. Boston Children’s Hospital, Massachusetts
2. Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Ohio
3. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
4. Texas Children’s Hospital, Texas
5. Children’s National Medical Center, Washington, D.C.
6. Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, California
7. Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Ohio
8. Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, Maryland
9. Children's Hospital Colorado, Colorado
10. Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Illinois

In developing the rankings, the authors looked at measures such as patient outcomes, including rates of death and infection, as well as available clinical resources and compliance with best practices.

Click here to read the full methodology.

• ALSO SEE: Know Your Medicare Rights

----Patch reporter Dan Hampton contributed to this report/Photo credit: Shutterstock