Lurie Children’s Hospital again fell short of making U.S. News & World Report’s list of the top 10 children’s hospitals in the country, though many of its specialties continue to rank highly.
It is the second consecutive year that Lurie didn’t make the cut, after appearing on the list the previous eight years.
U.S. News & World Report ranks hospitals based on patient outcomes, including mortality and infection rates; resources related to patient care, such as the ratio of nurses to patients; and compliance with best practices, such as those to prevent infections. Reputation, based on a survey of pediatric specialists and subspecialists, also plays into the rankings. Most of the data comes from surveys that U.S. News gives to hospitals.
“In this year’s U.S. News & World Report rankings of the best children’s hospitals, Lurie Children’s did not change and continues to be the top pediatric hospital in Illinois and one of the best nationally, ranked in all 10 specialties,” said Kary McIlwain, senior vice president and chief marketing and communications officer, in a statement. “The hospital continues to use U.S. News data to improve our care and outcomes.”
Lurie narrowly missed making the top 10 list, with only 11 other hospitals in the country earning more points under U.S. News’ methodology, said Ben Harder, managing editor and chief of health analysis for U.S. News.
“Since each patient and family has different needs, we encourage parents to focus not exclusively on our Honor Roll but also examine the pediatric specialty ranking that’s most relevant to their child’s medical needs,” Harder said in an email.
Lurie continued to see many of its specialties earn top honors. In some specialties, Lurie outperformed some hospitals that made the overall top 10 list, Harder noted.
Ten of Lurie’s specialties ranked among the top 35 in the country. Its highest-ranked specialty was urology, placing 7th in the nation. Two other specialties — cardiology and heart surgery, and neonatology — ranked 8th.
Other top-ranked specialties include cancer; diabetes and endocrinology; gastroenterology and GI surgery; nephrology; neurology and neurosurgery; orthopedics; and pulmonary and lung surgery.
As with last year, no Illinois children’s hospital made the top 10 list. Boston Children’s Hospital was named the top children’s hospital in the country.
Several other Illinois children’s hospitals also saw some of their specialties rank highly.
University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital saw two of its specialties rank among the top 50 in the country, with gastroenterology and GI surgery ranking 35th and its diabetes and endocrinology ranking 47th.
Advocate Children’s Hospital, which has campuses in Oak Lawn and Park Ridge, and OSF HealthCare Children’s Hospital of Illinois in Peoria, each had one specialty rank among the nation’s top 50. Advocate’s cardiology and heart surgery program ranked 25th and OSF’s nephrology specialty ranked 47th.
A number of different groups and organizations rate hospitals across the country each year, with each group using its own methodology. Hospitals often tout high ratings and rankings to help attract more patients and the dollars that come with them.
Hospitals have struggled with the financial fallout of COVID-19 in recent months. Lurie is among a number of local hospitals that have furloughed workers and cut pay in recent weeks because of revenue losses as facilities see fewer non-COVID-19 patients and perform fewer elective surgeries.
U.S. News’ rankings this year were not affected by the pandemic, which began after the data collection period.
