Lurie Children’s Hospital is the No. 1 children’s hospital in Illinois and tied for third in the Midwest this year, according to a new ranking from U.S. News & World Report.
U.S. News named UChicago Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital the second best children’s hospital in Illinois and Advocate Children’s Hospital the third best. Last year, Comer and Advocate were tied for second.
This year, Comer was named 17th best in the Midwest and Advocate tied for 22nd in the Midwest.
No Illinois hospital has earned a spot on U.S. News’ list of the nation’s top 10 children’s hospitals since 2018, when Lurie last earned that distinction.
“We are obviously very proud to be ranked No. 1,” said Dr. Marcelo Malakooti, Lurie’s chief medical officer. “I think the rankings are an important tool and guide for families when they may have a complex child and they’re trying to figure out what works best for their family and the specific conditions they might have.”
He said he’s confident Lurie will be back in the national top 10 “in the near future.” While it’s important for Lurie to focus on clinical outcomes, the hospital also prioritizes “comprehensive holistic care that really extends beyond the classified areas,” he said, which include family support, community outreach and cutting-edge treatments.
To compile the rankings, U.S. News and RTI International, a research and consulting firm, collected and analyzed data from 108 children’s hospitals across the country and surveyed thousands of pediatricians. Rankings are based on outcomes (such as survival, infections and complications), commitment to patient safety, clinical resources, family guidance and expert opinions, among other factors.
U.S. News rated children’s hospitals in 11 specialties. Lurie ranked among the nation’s top 50 children’s hospitals in all 11 specialties and among the top 25 in at least nine of them. Lurie’s highest specialty rankings were in neurology and neurosurgery, in which she ranked seventh in the nation, and in neonatology, in which she ranked 10th.
Comer ranked among the nation’s top 50 children’s hospitals in four specialties (behavioral health, cancer, neurology/neurosurgery and urology) and Advocate in one specialty (cardiology and cardiac surgery).
Comer’s ranking “represents the exceptional care we provide,” said Dr. John Cunningham, Comer’s chief physician and chair of the University of Chicago Department of Pediatrics. Among other offerings, he touted a surgical procedure the hospital performs on children whose epilepsy is not well controlled by medications, and its ability to offer gene therapy to children with sickle cell disease.
Still, he and Malakooti cautioned that patients should use the rankings as just one piece of information when choosing a hospital.
“Health care, particularly in pediatrics, is far more nuanced than can be reflected in rankings alone,” Malakooti said. “It’s a piece of the puzzle. … For me, what matters most is the quality of care the child receives.
Experts advise consumers to look at multiple reviews, their health insurance coverage and consider their doctors’ recommendations when choosing a hospital in a non-emergency situation.
A number of organizations rank and score hospitals each year, often using different methodologies and reaching different conclusions. Newsweek recently ranked Lurie ninth among the world’s best pediatric specialty hospitals.
High-performing hospitals often pay close attention to rankings and reviews, using them in their advertising in hopes of attracting more patients, including in the competitive Chicago-area health care market.
U.S. News ranked Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio as tied among the best children’s hospitals in the Midwest and said both were among the top 10 nationally . The nation’s other top 10 hospitals this year, in alphabetical order, include Boston Children’s Hospital; Children’s Hospital Colorado; Children’s Hospital Los Angeles; Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC; Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego; Seattle Children’s Hospital; and Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston.
