Lurie Children’s Hospital is the No. 1 children’s hospital in Illinois, according to U.S. News & World Report, but it has again missed ranking among the top 10 institutions in the country.
Nine of Lurie’s pediatric specialties rank among the top 50 in the country, according to U.S. News’ annual rankings released Tuesday. Lurie, overall, has not ranked among the top 10 children’s hospitals nationally since 2018, and the report does not assign overall, national rankings outside the top 10 in the country.
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University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital ranked as the second-best children’s hospital in Illinois, and tied for 14th in the Midwest — up from 19th last year. Advocate Children’s Hospital notched third place in Illinois and tied for 21st place in the Midwest — up from 23rd the year before.
Lurie tied for seventh-best children’s hospital in the Midwest this year, down from third last year, according to U.S. News. That, however, is partly because Lurie made an error in submitting data for one of its specialties, neurology and neurosurgery, and by the time the error was realized, it was too late to revise the rankings, said Ben Harder, managing editor and chief of health analysis at U.S. News.
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Dr. Derek Wheeler, Lurie’s chief medical officer, said in a statement that Lurie is “thrilled” to again be No. 1 in Illinois and that it’s improved its rankings in several specialties. Four Lurie specialties rank among the top 10 in the country, with urology ranking sixth, cardiology ninth, and cancer and neonatology 10th.
“U.S. News & World Report rankings can fluctuate dramatically based on numbers of patients seen and that can affect regional rankings,” Wheeler said. “We remain focused on the outcomes that matter to our patients and families, some of which are not utilized in the U.S. News & World Report rankings.”
Dr. John Cunningham, pediatrician-in-chief at Comer, credited Comer’s move upward in the rankings to its nurses and doctors and the complexity of care it provides, such as stem cell transplants for patients with conditions such as sickle cell disease. He also noted that Comer’s Dr. Mohan Gundeti is a world-renowned expert on robotic surgery for children with urological disorders. Comer ranked 31st in the country for urology. Comer’s cancer, gastroenterology and neonatology specialties also ranked among the top 50 nationwide.
“We continue to hire really outstanding people, really outstanding physicians and nurses,” Cunningham said. “Those have all helped us improve our ranking.”
At Advocate, one specialty, cardiology, ranked among the top 50 in the country.
Hospitals were ranked based on data and answers they provided to a U.S. News survey, as well as surveys of pediatric specialists. They were judged on measures including mortality, infection rates, health equity, clinical resources and compliance with best practices.
Nationwide, 119 hospitals submitted enough data earlier this year to be considered for rankings. U.S. News then ranked the top 50 children’s hospitals in each of 10 specialties.
A number of organizations rate hospitals each year, all with different methodologies. Hospitals often tout their ratings in advertisements to try to attract more patients and gain an edge over their competition. Experts say patients should use rankings as just one factor when choosing hospitals.
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The U.S. News rankings aim to give parents more information about hospitals as they make decisions about where their children should receive care, Harder said.
Decades ago, Harder said one of his relatives was born with a congenital heart condition and underwent surgery for it as an infant. But the hospital wasn’t well equipped to deal with a patient with that condition, and his relative ended up with lifelong brain damage as a result, he said.
“Our goal is to help parents and families make more informed decisions about where to get care, depending on what the needs of their child are,” Harder said.
U.S. News ranked Boston Children’s Hospital as the top children’s hospital in the country, followed by Texas Children’s Hospital and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
