University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital is listed among the nation’s best in five specialties in the new 2021-22 Best Children’s Hospital Rankings published online Tuesday by U.S. News & World Report.
UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital – Iowa’s only nationally ranked children’s hospital – ranked in the following areas:
25 in Neonatology
35 in Pediatric Orthopedics
41 in Pediatric Diabetes and Endocrinology
42 in Pediatric Nephrology
50 in Pediatric Neurology and Neurosurgery
“To continue to be ranked among the nation’s best children’s hospitals, particularly following a year in which the nation and the world faced a monumental health crisis, is a testament to the dedication of our exceptional team,” says Pamela Johnson-Carlson, chief administrative officer of UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital. “This is a true honor and really points to our commitment to providing the top-quality care our patients and families have come to expect from this team.”
“Our extraordinary team of physicians, nurses, researchers, and staff continue their years-long commitment to providing the best care and treatment not only for Iowa’s children, but for children from across the country and around the world – a feat that was even more commendable this past year during a global pandemic,” says Dr. Eva Tsalikian, interim physician-in-chief at UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital and interim chair and department executive officer of the Stead Family Department of Pediatrics at UI Carver College of Medicine. “To continue to be included on this list of best hospitals is a point of pride for all of our staff and sets the bar consistently high for future residents and staff.”
For 2021-22, U.S. News ranked the top 50 centers in each of these 10 pediatric specialties: cancer, cardiology and heart surgery, diabetes and endocrinology, gastroenterology and gastrointestinal surgery, neonatology, nephrology, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopedics, pulmonology and lung surgery and urology.
This year, the Best Children’s Hospitals rankings featured expanded offerings that include state rankings and multi-state regional rankings. UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital is ranked No. 1 in the state of Iowa and No. 15 in the Midwest Region, which includes Illinois, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
The annual Best Children’s Hospitals rankings and ratings, now in their 15th year, are designed to assist patients, their families and their doctors in making informed decisions about where to receive care for challenging health conditions.
“When choosing a hospital for a sick child, many parents want specialized expertise, convenience and caring medical professionals,” said Ben Harder, chief of health analysis and managing editor at U.S. News. “The Best Children’s Hospitals rankings have always highlighted hospitals that excel in specialized care. As the pandemic continues to affect travel, finding high-quality care close to home has never been more important.”
The Best Children’s Hospitals methodology factors objective measures such as patient outcomes, including mortality and infection rates, as well as available clinical resources and compliance with best practices. To calculate the Best Children’s Hospitals rankings, U.S. News gathered relevant data from children’s hospitals in early 2020 and from pediatric physicians and other healthcare organizations in 2021; because of the pandemic, data collection from children’s hospitals was not repeated in 2021.
RTI International, a North Carolina-based research and consulting firm, collected and analyzed data from 118 children’s hospitals and surveyed thousands of pediatric specialists. More than 100 pediatric specialists and other experts provided input through methodology working groups.
This year’s rankings will be published in the U.S. News & World Report’s Best Hospitals 2022.
