Best Children’s Hospitals in the Country: US News & World Report Releases List

The U.S. News & World Report has released the country's best children's hospitals 2013-14 ranking list, and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) has grabbed the first rank.

Though the report highlighted the 87 best hospitals that offered top care in any one of 10 specialties like cancer and cardiology, only 10 hospitals with high scores in three or more specialties were given place in the Honor Roll.

The top 10 specialties focused for compiling the list were: cancer, cardiology & heart surgery, diabetes & endocrinology, gastroenterology & GI surgery, neonatology, nephrology, neurology & neurosurgery, orthopedics, pulmonology, and urology.

The results were based on a survey conducted with 179 hospitals and another survey with about 150 pediatric specialists on the hospital's reputation. Apart from that, U.S. News also interviewed nearly 1,500 doctors and compiled a list of the best hospitals they suggested for pediatric patients. The scores were determined by factors like clinical outcome of the patients (survival rates in deadly diseases like cancer), availability of resources (staff), specific programs, and quality of hospital care system.

Below is the Best Children's Hospitals Honor Roll released by U.S. News and World Report. Number of specialties is given in the bracket:

1. Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (10)

2. Boston Children's Hospital (10)

3. Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (9)

4. Texas Children's Hospital, Houston (6)

5. Children's Hospital Los Angeles (6)

6. St. Louis Children's Hospital-Washington University (4)

7. Children's Hospital Colorado, Aurora (5)

8. Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago (4)

8. Johns Hopkins Children's Center, Baltimore (4)

10. Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC (3)

In the 2012-13 report, Boston Children's Hospital and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia had shared the top rankings, and only 80 hospitals could enter the ranking list, unlike 87 in the current report.