Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Ranked No. 1 Children’s Hospital in the Western U.S., Rises to No. 5 Overall

Hospital also earns top-10 honors in seven pediatric
subspecialties in U.S. News & World Report’s 2019-20 hospital survey

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–For the third straight year, Children’s
Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) has been named the top pediatric
hospital in the western United States, according to the U.S.
News & World Report Best Children’s Hospitals rankings announced
today.

CHLA also rose one spot from last year in U.S. News’ prestigious Honor
Roll of Best Children’s Hospitals to be ranked the No. 5 pediatric
medical center in the entire nation. The Honor Roll distinguishes
children’s hospitals with the most comprehensive and successful clinical
specialty programs.

“The talented doctors, nurses, researchers, technicians and other team
members at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles are unparalleled in their
commitment to children’s health,” says CHLA President and Chief
Executive Officer Paul S. Viviano. “CHLA is always striving to be the
gold standard of pediatric care, and I am proud that when U.S. News &
World Report looked at what we are doing to heal, protect and innovate,
they affirmed our belief that CHLA belongs in the highest echelon of
pediatric health care institutions.”

Every year, U.S. News scores nearly every major hospital and health
system in the country and ranks them according to performance
benchmarks, peer review, certifications, and other data provided by the
hospitals as well as third-party measurements of excellence. Children’s
hospitals receive separate rankings from other facilities due to the
specialized expertise, equipment and facilities required to care for
infants, children and youth.

This year, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles’ overall score places it
fifth in the United States out of 125 pediatric medical centers that
submitted data for the survey. CHLA also improved its ranking over last
year in five of the 10 pediatric specialty categories evaluated,
including top-10 recognition in seven categories:

• #4 – Cardiology
  & Heart Surgery (up from No. 5)
• #4 – Diabetes
  & Endocrinology (up from No. 5)
• #5 – Orthopaedics
• #9 – Gastroenterology
  & GI Surgery
• #9 – Neurology
  & Neurosurgery
• #9 – Neonatology
  (up from No. 14)
• #10 – Cancer
• #13 – Urology
• #13 – Pulmonology
  (up from No. 16)
• #16 – Nephrology
  (up from No. 18)

“Being a top-5 children’s hospital is more than a number to the
clinicians and staff at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles who strive every
day to create hope and build healthier futures for children,” says CHLA
Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer James
Stein, MD, MSc. “It means that they combine world-class expertise
with incredible commitment to provide the highest levels of care for
patients from Los Angeles and beyond, some of whom are diagnosed with
the most medically complex conditions.”

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is a world-renowned pediatric academic
medical center, known for providing high-quality clinical care,
leading-edge research and rigorous training for the next generation of
pediatric experts. Founded 118 years ago, CHLA now sees more than half a
million patient visits annually. The institution provides compassionate
and lifesaving pediatric care for patients of all ages, from infants
still in the womb to youth on the cusp of adulthood, from all 50 states
and more than 50 countries. Clinical care is led by physicians who are
faculty members of the Keck School of Medicine of USC.

Many of the institution’s achievements in care are made possible through
a cohesive relationship between clinical experts at the bedside and the
basic, translational, and clinical research conducted across the entire
campus as a part of the work of The
Saban Research Institute. CHLA’s strong culture of research means
that science is used to drive innovation. Clinicians who deliver care
can do so knowing that their care is informed by the latest scientific
and medical advances to provide the best health outcomes for children.

This drive to improve care has resulted in new milestones in pediatric
care being set at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and supporting
improvements in how care is delivered nationwide. A few examples from
the timeframe covered by the U.S. News & World Report survey include:

• New Nerve-Transfer Surgery: When a mysterious polio-like
  illness called Acute Flaccid Myelitis (AFM) was afflicting children
  and making national headlines last fall, Mitchel Seruya, MD, director
  of the Brachial Plexus and Peripheral Nerve Center at CHLA, developed
  a novel surgical nerve transfer technique to help restore function in
  the paralyzed limbs of AFM patients.
• CHLA-Developed Rapid Genetic Testing Helps in Breakthrough Cancer
  Treatment: The OncoKids® cancer panel developed by CHLA’s Center
  for Personalized Medicine is helping its Children’s Center for Cancer
  and Blood Diseases pinpoint genetic causes underlying rare tumors.
  Results from the testing permit doctors to tailor new drug treatments
  for patients with specific treatment needs with remarkable results.
• Level I Pediatric Trauma Center Reverification: CHLA has been
  reverified as the only freestanding Level I Pediatric Trauma Center in
  Los Angeles County by the American College of Surgeons.
• Health Network Implements Asthma Action Plan: CHLA worked with
  Southern California pediatricians who are affiliated with the CHLA
  Health Network to deliver quality asthma care and empower families
  with a better understanding of the disease.
• Virtual Reality Simulation Training: The Division of Emergency
  and Transport Medicine is using virtual reality to simulate real-life
  conditions and stresses of pediatric emergencies to help medical
  students and doctors better train for these scenarios.
• Unsedated Trans-Nasal Endoscopy with Virtual Reality Pain
  Management: CHLA’s Divisions of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and
  Nutrition; Otolaryngology; and Comfort and Palliative Care
  successfully completed the first unsedated Trans-Nasal Endoscopy (TNE)
  on the West Coast, dramatically cutting the time a patient spends in
  the hospital and eliminating the need for pre-procedure “midnight
  fasting.” Instead of anesthesia, patients can wear a virtual reality
  headset and watch a movie or play a game as a distraction.
• Percutaneous Fetoscopic “Keyhole” Spina Bifida Repair: A
  multi-institution clinical pilot headed by several CHLA experts
  affiliated with the hospital’s Fetal and Neonatal Institute and the
  Neurological Institute was the first in the western U.S. to perform a
  completely laparoscopic repair of the most severe form of spina bifida
  on a fetus still in the womb, a technique that minimizes risk to the
  mother.

U.S. News & World Report’s Best Children’s Hospitals list is a
collaboration between hospitals and the publication to benchmark the
performance of children’s hospitals for the benefit of parents and their
children. Research firm RTI International and the magazine collect and
analyze data from each of the hospitals surveyed in several categories,
including:

• Clinical outcomes, such as patient survival and surgical complication
  rates;
• Quality of hospital resources related to patient care, including
  staffing, technology and special services;
• Delivery of care and commitment to patient safety, such as infection
  prevention and adherence to best practices;
• Expert opinion among peer physicians nationwide; and
• Other measurements of excellence, including the number of fellowship
  programs and how involved families are in their child’s care.

U.S. News Media Group, the parent of U.S. News & World Report, announced
the 2019-20 hospital rankings online at 12:01 a.m. EST on Tuesday, June
18. For additional information, please follow the links below:

Best Children’s Hospitals 2019-20 Honor Roll: https://health.usnews.com/health-news/best-childrens-hospitals/articles/best-childrens-hospitals-honor-roll-and-overview

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Best Children’s Hospital 2019-20
Profile Page: https://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/area/ca/childrens-hospital-los-angeles-6931470#rankings

About Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

Founded in 1901, Children’s
Hospital Los Angeles is ranked the top children’s hospital in
California and fifth in the nation for clinical excellence with its
selection to the prestigious U.S. News & World Report Honor Roll of
children’s hospitals. Clinical care is led by physicians who are faculty
members of the Keck School of Medicine of USC through an affiliation
dating from 1932. The hospital also leads the largest pediatric
residency training program at a freestanding children’s hospital of its
kind in the western United States. The hospital is home to The Saban
Research Institute, one of the few centers in the world that focuses
on discoveries that advance the clinical care of children. To learn
more, follow us on Facebook,
Instagram,
LinkedIn and Twitter,
visit our blog for families (CHLA.org/blog)
or our research blog (ResearCHLABlog.org).

Contacts

Lorenzo Benet
CHLA Public Relations Director
323.361.4823 | lbenet@chla.usc.edu