- Specialties score high with six among top 10 including Neurology-Neurosurgery and Cancer 

Johns Hopkins Children’s Center is No. 5 on U.S. News & World Report’s new ranked Honor Roll of American children’s hospitals. The Honor Roll includes 11 children’s hospitals that excelled in four or more pediatric specialty rankings.

Hopkins Children’s earned a spot in the top ten for six specialties, including No. 3 in Neurology & Neurosurgery, No. 8 in Diabetes & Endocrinology, No. 9 in Cancer, Pulmonology and Urology, and No. 10 in Neonatology.  Other pediatric specialties earning high marks include Orthopedics (#11), Gastroenterology (#12), and Nephrology (#12).

Now in its fifth year, USN&WR’s Best Children’s Hospitals pulls together clinical and operational data from a lengthy survey that is sent to 177 hospitals. The survey asks hundreds of questions about survival rates, nurse staffing, subspecialist availability, and other key indicators. The data from the survey are combined with recommendations from pediatric specialists on the hospitals they consider best for children with challenging problems.

When next year’s rankings are released, Hopkins Children’s will have a new home. Opening in April 2012, The Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children's Center is a 205-bed, state-of-the-art children’s hospital named in honor of the mother of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Included in the bed numbers are a 45-bed neonatal intensive care unit and a 40-bed pediatric intensive care unit.

Ten new operating rooms will be designated for pediatrics, as well as dedicated radiology suites on the same floor as the ORs. An all-new Pediatric Emergency Department nearly doubles our current capacity with 34 beds and a Level 1 Trauma Center. Patient rooms will all be private and parents can sleep by their child in each room on a comfortable sleep sofa. Rooms will also have an interactive in-house television system to play games, access the internet or watch movies.

In July, U.S. News & World Report will release its annual American hospital rankings, a list that The Johns Hopkins Hospital has topped for 20 years in a row. This year’s Honor Roll ranked Children’s Hospital Boston No. 1, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia No. 2, Cincinnati Children’s No. 3, Texas Children’s Hospital No. 4 and Hopkins Children’s No. 5. Denver Children’s was also ranked No. 5.

For a complete list of all rankings, go to www.USNews.com