Comer Children's Hospital among nation's best in annual survey

June 5, 2012

The University of Chicago Medicine's Comer Children's Hospital has been ranked among the nation's top hospitals for children by U.S. News & World Report.

Comer Children's Hospital received recognition in three specialties, ranking No. 37 in gastroenterology, 49 in neonatal care and 48 in pulmonology. Eighty U.S. hospitals were ranked in one or more specialties, out of the 178 pediatric centers surveyed by U.S. News.

The rankings feature 50 hospitals in each of 10 pediatric specialties: cancer, cardiology and heart surgery, diabetes and endocrinology, gastroenterology, neonatology, nephrology, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopedics, pulmonology and urology. The hospital survey looked at hard data, such as availability of key resources and ability to prevent complications and infections. That comprised 75 percent of the rankings, and results from a separate reputational survey of 1,500 pediatric specialists made up the remaining 25 percent.

Comer Children's Hospital's pediatric experts use advanced diagnostic and medical techniques to care for young patients. In the last fiscal year, about 4,600 children were hospitalized at Comer, which opened in 2005 and has become a major referral center for treatment of complex diseases. More than 41,000 young patients made general pediatric and specialty care visits to Comer, and the pediatric emergency room saw nearly 29,000 children.

The full rankings and methodology are available at www.usnews.com/childrenshospitals. The rankings will be published in the U.S. News "Best Hospitals 2013" guidebook, which will be available in August.