Cincinnati Children's Hospital is No. 2 overall, tops for cancer, says U.S. News & World Report

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center now is the nation’s best hospital to treat pediatric cancer and second-best children's hospital overall, according to the latest rankings from U.S. News & World Report.

The magazine released its 12th annual evaluation Tuesday of 189 hospitals for children in the United States. Cincinnati Children’s Hospital was No. 3 overall for the previous seven years. Tuesday’s results show the Corryville facility has now jumped past Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to hit the No. 2 overall position.

U.S. News again ranked Boston Children’s Hospital as the best overall pediatric facility in the country. The best overall category is for hospitals that rank highest across the survey categories. The only other Ohio hospital on the magazine’s 10-facility honor roll is Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus.

Dr. Steve Davis, chief operating officer for Cincinnati's Children's, exulted in the new rating, which he said "reflects the passion and the dedication of our employees who work tirelessly every day to improve the health of patients and families who come to us for care. We've reached No. 2 in the nation because we put kids first."

The magazine evaluates and ranks children’s hospitals on 10 treatment specialties, and this year, This year, Cincinnati Children’s rose in the rankings for eight specialties:

No. 5 to No. 1 for cancer care

No. 3 to tops in gastroenterology

No. 3 to No. 2 in kidney care, neurology and urology

No. 13 to No. 5 in neonatology

No. 7 to No. 3 for endocrinology

No. 4 to No. 2 in pulmonology

The hospital kept its No. 4 ranking last year in orthopedics, but cardiac care slid from sixth to eighth.

The overall ranking improvement took place as Cincinnati Children’s broke ground on an ambitious $600 million expansion into the Avondale neighborhood for a new clinical care building.

Ben Harder, chief of health analysis at U.S. News, noted that reaching No. 1 in pediatric cancer treatment is an indicator of Cincinnati Children's work.

"Hospitals on the Best Children's Hospitals Honor Roll are by any measure among the most exemplary in the nation," Harder said. "Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center ranks high in every single medical specialty, which led to its No. 2 spot for the 2018-19 rankings."

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