U.S. News and World Report has made a cottage industry of ranking institutions, including hospitals. Today, they released their 2017-2018 rankings for best children’s hospitals in the United States. This included a list for the hospitals with the best diabetes and endocrinology programs for children.
Here is who made the cut for the top five:
1. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
2. Boston Children’s Hospital
3. Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh or UPMC
4. Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital
5. Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
U.S. News & World Report also came up with an honor roll for best hospitals all around for children. From the list above, Boston Children’s Hospital won the top ranking, while Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia won second-best.
The organization creates this list using an evolving methodology which takes into account survey results, as well as objective measures like clinical outcomes, patient volume, infection control, adequacy of nurse staffing, and efficiency and coordination of care, according to a press release. In the same release, U.S. News also says that more “than 100 medical directors, pediatric specialists and other experts provided input through methodology working groups.” In other words, one can be reasonably sure that these were thought-out picks.
So what do these lists mean besides determining who gets bragging rights? Good question. Realistically, most parents are not going to have the luxury to travel to one of these top hospitals for their children to receive diabetes care. If you are required to be transferred to a hospital that is not in your geographic area, chances are it is one that will be recommended to you. And it’s not as though you can’t receive great diabetes care from a hospital not on this list, or, for that matter, lousy care from a doctor from a hospital on this list.
Still, as U.S. News & World Report has learned over the years, everyone loves lists. We do, and we thought you might be curious, as well.
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