U.S. News Ranks Golisano Children's Hospital Among Best in Four Programs
Golisano Children's Hospital at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) is steadily moving up the list of U.S. News & World Report's Best Children's Hospital rankings. The hospital has been listed among the nation’s best hospitals for four pediatric specialties –gastroenterology, neonatology, orthopaedics and neurology/neurosurgery. The annual rankings, which are available online today and will be published in the U.S. News Best Hospitals 2013 guidebook in August, are based on data submitted by nearly 180 pediatric institutions nationwide.
Each of the past four years, Golisano Children's Hospital has added a specialty to the U.S. News rankings, starting in 2009 with orthopaedics, which ranked #38 this year. Neonatology ranked #27; Gastroenterology, which is new to the list this year, ranked #41, and Neurology and Neurosurgery ranked #44.
“We are delighted that Golisano Children's Hospital has – again – been recognized nationally for the expert care for which we are already known regionally,” said Nina F. Schor, M.D., Ph.D., chair of URMC’s Department of Pediatrics and pediatrician-in-chief of Golisano Children’s Hospital. “We are able to provide this top-notch care because of the collaboration among many departments within URMC, the Ronald McDonald House and the community. And because of those partnerships, we are a destination for pediatric care throughout upstate New York, which underscores, even more, the need for our new children's hospital.”
Last year, Golisano Children's Hospital embarked on a $100 million campaign, which is part of the University of Rochester Medical Center’s $650 million campaign and the overall $1.2 billion goal of The Meliora Challenge: The Campaign for the University of Rochester, both to make major enhancements to pediatric programs and to build a new children’s hospital. The new $145-million tower, located on Crittenden Boulevard and attached to the medical center and Strong Memorial Hospital, will be eight floors and approximately 245,000 square feet of space dedicated to children and their families. The groundbreaking is planned for late summer or early fall this year with an expected opening in 2015. It is being financed through a combination of equity, loans, and a comprehensive fundraising effort.
Each of the U.S. News-ranked programs has made major improvements in recent years. For example, Neonatology has been focusing on driving down infection rates and being more patient- and family-centered. Its NICU recently added eight new beds and more space to help families transition their babies to home. Neonatology moved up 23 slots on the U.S. News list from #50 in 2011, the first year it was ranked. And Orthopaedics moved up 10 slots this year, after specially training inpatient nursing staff to treat the complicated pediatric orthopaedic patients the division is now attracting from across the northeast. The division also recently hired a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon who specializes in complex hip issues in children.
“These rankings show that our focus on improving quality and safety, as well as implementing patient and family-centered care is paying off with national recognition,” said Bradford C. Berk, M.D., Ph.D., CEO of URMC. “I commend our team of health professionals for their success, and I thank Tom Golisano and our community for their generous support of our programs. The combination of community support, superb care, and academic excellence has enabled Golisano Children’s Hospital to achieve recognition as one of the very best children’s hospitals in the U.S.”
Golisano Children's Hospital serves more than 74,000 children from the 17-county Finger Lakes region and beyond every year – both as inpatients and outpatients. It houses 132 beds and 34 pediatric specialties and subspecialties, including Pediatric Gastroenterology, Neonatology, Pediatric Orthopaedics, Child Neurology and Pediatric Neurosurgery.
The U.S. News & World Report rankings feature the 50 best 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. Eighty hospitals across the country ranked in one or more specialties.
This year, U.S. News surveyed 178 pediatric centers to obtain hard data such as availability of key resources and ability to prevent complications and infections. The hospital survey made up 75 percent of the rankings. A separate reputational survey in which 1,500 pediatric specialists—150 in each specialty—were asked where they would send the sickest children in their specialty made up the remaining 25 percent.
The full rankings and methodology are available at http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/pediatric-rankings. The rankings will also be published in the U.S. News Best Hospitals 2013 guidebook, which will be available in August.