BIRMINGHAM – U.S. News & World Report in its annual rankings of hospitals said Business Council of Alabama member Children’s of Alabama is among the best children’s hospitals in the nation, Children’s announced Tuesday.
Eight of Children’s pediatric specialty services – cardiology/heart surgery, diabetes/endocrinology, gastroenterology/GI surgery, neonatology, nephrology, neurology/neurosurgery, pulmonology and urology – were ranked among the top 50 in the U.S. in the magazine’s 2016-17 Best Children’s Hospital rankings that were released this week.
Children’s posted this year’s rankings on its website. It is Children’s seventh consecutive year to be ranked.
U.S. News & World Report ranked 10 specialties, including cancer, endocrinology, heart/heart surgery, gastroenterology, kidney, neonatology, neurology/neurosurgery, orthopedics, pulmonology and urology.
Children’s said it is the only pediatric facility in Alabama to have been ranked and one of just 36 hospitals with eight or more specialties on the list of more than 180 hospitals that were surveyed.
“These rankings underscore these commitments we have to recruit, train and retain healthcare professionals with the most inquiring minds, skilled hands and compassionate hearts,” said Children’s CEO and President Mike Warren. “Since 1911, Children’s of Alabama has been committed to providing the very best in pediatric medicine to every child who comes to us for care.”
Children’s and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Departments of Pediatrics, Neurosurgery, Urology and Surgery collaborated to submit the requested information. Children’s is the primary site for pediatric clinical and educational programs for the University of Alabama School of Medicine.
“This is an opportunity to be locally relevant and nationally significant,” said Dr. Mitch Cohen, physician-in-chief of Children’s and chair of the Department of Pediatrics at UAB. “We are in a position to improve the health of the children of Alabama and we are also able to play on the national academic stage.”
Children’s of Alabama has provided specialized medical care for ill and injured children since 1911, offering inpatient and outpatient services throughout Alabama. With more than 2 million square feet, Children’s is the third largest pediatric medical facility in the U.S.
Families from every county in Alabama, 41 other states and eight foreign countries made more than 677,000 outpatient visits to Children’s last year, plus more than 71,000 emergency department visits, Children’s said.
More than 24,000 surgeries were performed at the state’s only freestanding pediatric medical facility in 2015. About half of all admissions come through the emergency department.
U.S. News introduced the Best Children’s Hospital rankings in 2007 to help families of sick children find the best medical care available. The rankings provide families an exclusive look at quality-related information at the individual hospital level.