The Bay Area: Home to Two of the Best Children’s Hospitals

Must be that time of year where lists are popular; lists of high school graduates line the local papers, lists for sports draft picks clutter the sports section, and, lately, there have been numerous lists generated by scientific research and studies. We’ve posted on America’s greenest cities and the best Peninsula hospitals, and just two days ago I reported on America’s Fittest Cities. So to continue in that vein, I went through the whole U.S. News and World Report review of America’s Best Children’s Hospitals. You may not think this important or relevant, but trust me, it is good to have this information when you need it.

Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford is practically in my back door, being only about 8 miles from where I live. Once upon a time, when my brother was very young, we spent a fair amount of time at this hospital. When your family doctor and local specialists cannot diagnose a health problem, this is the place you want to be. Places like Stanford Children’s Hospital (as it was known in those days) are lifesavers, literally. They are compassionate, well-oiled machines with top-notch staff geared toward treating the youngest members of our society (which takes a special touch and patience.)

It is nice to see how well they, and UCSF Children’s Hospital, did in the report. Given the number of children’s hospitals in this country, they both fared remarkably well. Taking the first step toward ranking these hospitals (something that had not been previously done), U.S. News started by choosing the top 30 pediatric centers across the nation, from among the 143 invited to participate. They based the rankings on reputation (with input from 1,100 pediatricians), outcome, and care-related measures. (Full information on methodology is available with the story online.)

They ranked hospitals on 7 categories: General Pediatrics, Cancer, Digestive Disorders, Heart and Hearth Surgery, Neonatal Care, Neurology and Neurosurgery, and Respiratory Disorders. How did Bay Area hospitals fare? Here’s the answer, by category:

General Pediatrics:
12th Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford
20th UCSF Children’s Hospital

Cancer
10th Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford
20th UCSF Children’s Hospital

Digestive Disorders
12th Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford
13th UCSF Children’s Hospital

Heart and Heart Surgery
5th Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford
18th UCSF Children’s Hospital

Neonatal Care
5th Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford
10th UCSF Children’s Hospital

Neurology and Neurosurgery
18th Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford
19th UCSF Children’s Hospital

Respiratory Disorders
15th Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford
25th UCSF Children’s Hospital