U.S. News Names Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s the #1 Pediatric Cancer Program
June 09, 2015
Boston Children’s is the #1
pediatric hospital, with top rankings in cancer and six other categories
(News release)
Dana-Farber/Boston
Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center remains the nation’s top
pediatric cancer program, according to the 2015-16 edition of U.S. News &
World Report’s Best
Children’s Hospitals. The program was ranked #1 last year and has
been named #1 or #2 for five consecutive years. U.S. News named Boston Children’s Hospital the
nation’s #1 pediatric hospital, with top rankings in seven of the ten
categories – including cancer – that it evaluates.
“We are honored by this #1 ranking, which recognizes the
exceptional care that comes from uniting a world-class cancer institute and a
world-class pediatric hospital,” said David A. Williams, MD, chief of
hematology/oncology at Boston Children’s and associate chair of pediatric
oncology at Dana-Farber
Cancer Institute. “We specialize in cancer in children and
in both research into new treatments and the delivery of these new treatments
to our patients.”
The two Harvard Medical School affiliates offer unique
benefits to young cancer patients, noted Lisa Diller, MD, chief medical officer
of Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s.
“In addition to being cared for by our excellent
oncologists, children with cancer benefit from the expertise of other
top-ranked specialties at Boston Children’s, from neurosurgeons operating on
brain tumors to cardiologists monitoring the heart effects of the toxic
treatments sometimes needed to cure cancer,” Diller said. “These and
other specialists, such as the pathologists and radiologists who ensure that we
make the correct diagnosis, bring a truly multidisciplinary approach to our
care of children with cancer.”
In addition to earning U.S. News’ top ranking in cancer,
Boston Children’s ranked #1 in neurology/neurosurgery, cardiology/heart
surgery, diabetes/endocrinology, gastroenterology/GI surgery, nephrology and
urology. It was second in neonatology, third in orthopedics, and fourth in
pulmonology. The Best Children’s Hospitals rankings highlight U.S. News’s top
50 U.S. pediatric facilities in these ten areas. Based
on a combination of clinical data and reputation surveys of pediatric
specialists, U.S. News ranked 83 hospitals in at least one specialty.
U.S.
News introduced the Best Children’s Hospitals rankings in 2007 to help families
of children with rare or life-threatening illnesses find the best medical care
available. The rankings open the door to an array of detailed information about
each hospital’s performance.
Most of each hospital’s score
relied on patient outcomes and care-related resources. U.S. News garnered
clinical data from a detailed questionnaire sent to 184 pediatric hospitals. A
sixth of the score came from annual surveys of pediatric specialists and
subspecialists in each specialty in 2013, 2014 and 2015. They were asked where
they would send the sickest children in their specialty, setting aside
considerations of location and expense.
Survival
rates, adequacy of nurse staffing, procedure volume and other data can be
viewed on http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/pediatric-rankings and will be published in the U.S. News “Best
Hospitals 2016” guidebook, which will be available September 1.
