U.S. News names Dana-Farber/Boston Children's #1 pediatric cancer program

Boston Children's is #1 pediatric hospital and earns top ranking in another six categories

Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center remains the nation’s top pediatric cancer program, according to the 2015-16 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s Best Children’s Hospitals. The program was ranked #1 last year and has been named #1 or #2 for five consecutive years. U.S. News named Boston Children’s Hospital the nation’s #1 pediatric hospital, with top rankings in seven of the ten categories – including cancer – that it evaluates.

“We are honored by this #1 ranking, which recognizes the exceptional care that comes from uniting a world-class cancer institute and a world-class pediatric hospital,” said David A. Williams, MD, chief of hematology/oncology at Boston Children’s and associate chair of pediatric oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. “We specialize in both cancer and in children and in both research into new treatments and the delivery of these new treatments to our patients.”

The two Harvard Medical School affiliates offer unique benefits to young cancer patients, noted Lisa Diller, MD, chief medical officer of Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s

“In addition to being cared for by our excellent oncologists, children with cancer benefit from the expertise of other top-ranked specialties at Boston Children’s, from neurosurgeons operating on brain tumors to cardiologists monitoring the heart effects of the toxic treatments sometimes needed to cure cancer,”  Diller said. “These and other specialists, such as the pathologists and radiologists who ensure that we make the correct diagnosis, bring a truly multidisciplinary approach to our care of children with cancer.”

In addition to earning U.S. News’ top ranking in cancer, Boston Children’s ranked #1 in neurology/neurosurgery, cardiology/heart surgery, diabetes/endocrinology, gastroenterology/GI surgery, nephrology and urology. It was second in neonatology, third in orthopedics, and fourth in pulmonology. The Best Children’s Hospitals rankings highlight U.S. News’s top 50 U.S. pediatric facilities in these ten areas. Based on a combination of clinical data and reputation surveys of pediatric specialists, U.S. News ranked 83 hospitals in at least one specialty.

U.S. News introduced the Best Children’s Hospitals rankings in 2007 to help families of children with rare or life-threatening illnesses find the best medical care available. The rankings open the door to an array of detailed information about each hospital’s performance.

Most of each hospital’s score relied on patient outcomes and care-related resources. U.S. News garnered clinical data from a detailed questionnaire sent to 184 pediatric hospitals. A sixth of the score came from annual surveys of pediatric specialists and subspecialists in each specialty in 2013, 2014 and 2015. They were asked where they would send the sickest children in their specialty, setting aside considerations of location and expense.

Survival rates, adequacy of nurse staffing, procedure volume and other data can be viewed on health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/pediatric-rankings and will be published in the U.S. News “Best Hospitals 2016” guidebook, which will be available September 1.