Here Are the Best Hospitals, Children's Hospitals in Connecticut and the United States

By Marc Torrence and Brian McCready, Patch Staff

U.S. News & World Report released a list of the best children's hospitals in the country Tuesday, and Boston Children's Hospital took the top spot.

The magazine — which publishes some of the most respected rankings on schools, hospitals (see below for its recent rankings on hospitals for adults), 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

To make the magazine's "honor roll," a hospital had to rank in the top 10 percent in at least three specialties. Then, hospitals were assigned a points score — two points for ranking in the top 5 percentile of a specialty and one point for ranking in the next 5 percentile — to come up with the overall ranking.

No Connecticut hospital made the nation’s top 10 list, which can be seen below but Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital was nationally ranked in six children’s pediatric specialities.

Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital scored specifically well nationally in these categories:

#35 in Children's Cancer Hospitals

#7 in Children's Diabetes & Endocrinology Hospitals

#38 in Children's Gastroenterology & GI Surgery Hospitals

#47 in Children's Neonatology Hospitals

#47 in Children's Neurology & Neurosurgery Hospitals

#48 in Children's Orthopedics Hospitals

Here were the top 10 overall on the honor roll for the nation’s top children’s hospitals:
1. Boston Children's Hospital (20 points, 10 specialties)
2. Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (19 points, 10 specialties)
3. Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (15 points, 8 specialties)
4. Texas Children's Hospital, Houston (12 points, 7 specialties)
5. Seattle Children's Hospital (6 points, 5 specialties)
6. Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago(5 points, 4 specialties)
7. (tie) Children's Hospital Los Angeles (4 points, 4 specialties)
7. (tie) Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC (4 points, 4 specialties)
9. Children's Hospital Colorado, Aurora (4 points, 3 specialties)
10. (tie) Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford, Palo Alto, Calif. (3 points, 3 specialties)
10. (tie) Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio (3 points, 3 specialties)

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

For adults, U.S. News & World Report has previously ranked the top hospitals in CT and that list includes:

1. Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven

2. Hartford Hospital in Hartford

3. Danbury Hospital in Danbury

4. Greenwich Hospital in Greenwich

4. Middlesex Hospital in Middletown

4. St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford

4. Waterbury Hospital in Waterbury

8. St. Vincent's Medical Center in Bridgeport

Yale-New Haven Hospital was ranked No. 42 nationally in Adult Cancer Hospitals.

Yale is also ranked:

#8 in Adult Diabetes & Endocrinology Hospitals

#43 in Adult Ear, Nose & Throat Hospitals

#22 in Adult Gastroenterology & GI Surgery Hospitals,

#25 in Adult Geriatrics Hospitals

#27 in Adult Gynecology Hospitals

#10 in Adult Psychiatry Hospitals

#21 in Adult Pulmonology Hospitals