Texas Children's Ranked Among Nation’s Best Children's Hospitals

ACROSS TEXAS — Texas Children's Hospital has made the U.S. News and World Report’s inaugural list of the best children’s hospitals in the nation.

U.S. News included a state-by-state ranking in its list of the nation’s best children’s hospitals for the first time when it released its 2021 rankings on Tuesday, listing Texas Children's Hospital, Children's Medical Center Dallas and Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital as the highest-rated pediatric hospitals in Texas.

Texas Children's Hospital in Houston made the Honor Roll list for top pediatric hospitals in the country, placing third on the top-10 list.

“This year’s new state and regional rankings can help families identify conveniently local hospitals capable of meeting their child’s needs,” Ben Harder, managing editor for U.S. News, said in a news release. “As the pandemic continues to affect travel, finding high-quality care close to home has never been more important.”

U.S. News’ top-ranked children’s hospitals were also sorted by region this year. All rankings were found through a clinical survey sent to about 200 hospitals nationwide and another survey that included input from more than 100 pediatric medical experts, U.S. News said.

Specifically, researchers looked at three categories — clinical outcomes, coordination of care and care-related resources — in determining the rankings. All data used in the rankings came from before the coronavirus outbreak became a pandemic, according to U.S. News.

Texas Children's Hospital also was the top-ranked pediatric hospital in the Southwest, according to U.S. News.

In the mid-Atlantic region, the top children’s hospital is Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center is the highest ranked in the Midwest; Boston Children’s Hospital in New England; Children’s Hospital Los Angeles in the Pacific region; Children’s Hospital Colorado in the Rocky Mountains; and a tie between Children’s Hospital of Atlanta and Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital of Vanderbilt in the Southeast.

Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford in Palo Alto, California, also made the U.S. News children’s hospital honor roll.

The nation’s top children’s hospitals in specific specialties were also listed. Texas Children’s Hospital earned the top spot in pediatric cardiology and heart surgery, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in pediatric cancer and Children’s National Hospital in neonatology.

"For more than 60 years, the integrated, multidisciplinary team at Texas Children’s Heart Center has combined cutting-edge technology with a compassionate and family-centered approach to care," stated a Texas Children's Hospital news release on the rankings. "Annually, more than 1,000 surgeries and 1,400 cardiac catheterization procedures are performed in Lester and Sue Smith Legacy Tower, the home of the Heart Center, where a team-based approach brings experts in every aspect of cardiac care to the bedside."

Texas Children's Hospital also garnered top-five rankings in neurology and neurosurgery (second), nephrology (third), pulmonology (third), cancer (fourth), gastroenterology and GI surgery (fourth), diabetes and endocrinology (fifth) and urology (fifth).