Lurie Children’s Hospital is again the No. 1 children’s hospital in Illinois, with Advocate Children’s Hospital and University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital tying for second place in the state, according to a new U.S. News & World Report ranking.
The report ranked Lurie as the seventh best children’s hospital in the Midwest. No Illinois children’s hospital has ranked in the top 10 nationally since Lurie last scored a spot there in 2018. U.S. News does not rank children’s hospitals nationally beyond the top 10.
“We are proud to once again be recognized as the top pediatric hospital in Illinois by U.S. News & World Report,” said Dr. Derek Wheeler, executive vice president and chief clinical officer at Lurie, in a statement. “Our specialty rankings far outrank our peers in Chicago. It is important to keep in mind that with the current ranking methodology, year-to-year fluctuations can easily occur, depending in part on the high acuity and complexity of the patients we serve.”
Nine specialties at Lurie ranked among the top 25 nationwide.
U.S. News ranked children’s hospitals across the country based on data and answers they provided to a U.S. News survey, as well as surveys of pediatric specialists. Hospitals were judged on measures including mortality, infection rates, clinical resources and compliance with best practices.
This year, U.S. News changed its methodology to put less emphasis on expert opinions and give more weight to hospitals’ commitments to equity, diversity and inclusion, as well as best practices.
Nationally, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center was named the top children’s hospital in the country, followed by Boston Children’s Hospital and Texas Children’s Hospital.
In Illinois, Advocate Children’s moved up one spot this year, to tie for second best in the state with Comer. Last year, U.S. News ranked Comer second best in the state and Advocate Children’s third best.
This year, Advocate Children’s and Comer also tied for 20th best in the Midwest, along with three other hospitals. That’s up one spot for Advocate Children’s and down several places for Comer, which tied for 14th best children’s hospital in the Midwest last year.
Comer ranked in the top 50 in the country in one specialty, gastroenterology and GI surgery. Advocate Children’s also ranked in the top 50 in one specialty, cardiology and heart surgery.
“We believe today’s ratings don’t fully capture the exceptional, compassionate and safe medical care provided to children at our facility, said Dr. John Cunningham, physician-in-chief at Comer, in a statement. “We are conducting a comprehensive data review to fully understand our rankings and are committed to advancing all quality improvement efforts.”
Advocate Children’s Hospital President Mike Farrell sad in a statement that the hospital’s doctors, nurses and other employees work together “to provide safe, high-quality care” and, “We are proud that their dedication has led us to be recognized as one of the highest-performing children’s hospitals in Illinois.”
Each year, a number of organizations rank hospitals, using different methodologies that often produce different results. Hospitals use high marks in their advertising to attract more patients and better compete with other facilities.
Proponents of hospital rankings say they’re a valuable tool to help patients choose where to seek care, while critics say they don’t paint a full picture or always take important factors into account.
In recent years, some medical and law schools have rebelled against U.S. News’ rankings of their institutions, declining to fill out U.S. News surveys. Leaders at University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine decided in January to no longer participate in U.S. News & World Report’s medical school rankings.
So far, no Chicago area hospitals have said they plan to withdraw from U.S. News’ hospital rankings. Pennsylvania hospital system St. Luke’s University Health Network said in May it would no longer participate in U.S. News’ hospital rankings, calling them “seriously flawed” in a letter to U.S. News.