CHOP Once Again Among Top Children’s Hospitals in 2021 Honor Roll

Once again, CHOP placed at the top of U.S. News and World Report’s Honor Roll of Best Children’s Hospitals.

limjr [at] chop.edu (By Jillian Rose Lim)

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has once again topped U.S. News and World Report’s ranking of the best children’s hospitals in the nation, maintaining second place in their 2021-2022 Honor Roll. For 15 years running, CHOP has earned a top spot on the list, which is released to help families make informed decisions about where their children can receive care for challenging conditions.

This year, U.S. News also offered a list of regional and state rankings; notably, CHOP ranked No.1 among all pediatric hospitals in the Mid-Atlantic region and No. 1 within Pennsylvania.

As in previous years, CHOP’s individual divisions excelled in the ranking of 10 specialty areas: cancer, cardiology and heart surgery, diabetes and endocrinology, gastroenterology and GI surgery, neonatology, nephrology, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopedics, pulmonology and lung surgery, and urology. In each one of these specialties, CHOP ranked in the top eight out of 50 pediatric hospitals. In five of these specialties, CHOP received first, second, or third place: The Division of Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine ranked at No.2.; the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition ranked at No. 3.; and, just like last year, the Divisions of Oncology, Endocrinology and Diabetes, and Orthopaedic Surgery cinched a No.1 spot.

"We are proud of our teams for their unwavering commitment to our patients and families during this difficult year,” said Madeline Bell, President and CEO of CHOP. “Although the COVID pandemic changed many things about the healthcare landscape, it did not change our fundamental commitment to delivering the highest quality healthcare to our patients. Now, and in the years ahead, we look forward to continuing to serve families who come to us from all over the country – and the world – seeking trusted expertise and the most advanced treatment options available for their children.”

In addition to providing remarkable clinical care, clinicians in these departments also conduct innovative research to drive better outcomes for children. Some of these projects and findings appeared in Cornerstone.

For example, investigators Michael Chorny, PhD, and Garrett Brodeur, MD, in the Division of Oncology, are co-investigators for a study exploring a novel approach for high-risk neuroblastoma; the project addresses the treatment resistance and toxicity often observed in chemotherapy. In the Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes, physician-scientist Sara Pinney, MD, MS, conducted a study that found in utero BPA exposure was associated with changes in gene expression for genes important to the development of obesity and diabetes. And in the Division of Orthopedics, postdoctoral fellow Kaylia Duncan, PhD, is working on a project dedicated to unraveling the molecular underpinnings of Lamb-Shaffer Syndrome, a relatively rare and newly characterized neurodevelopmental disorder.

These and so many other scientific discoveries at CHOP form the building blocks for excellence in bedside treatment. We proudly congratulate all the staff and healthcare workers at CHOP for this well-deserved recognition from U.S. News and look forward to another year bringing better outcomes from the bench to the bedside.

U.S. News calculated these rankings by factoring in objective measures such as patient outcomes (including mortality rate and infections) alongside clinical resources and compliance with best practices. U.S. News gathered the relevant data from children’s hospitals in early 2020 and from pediatric physicians and other healthcare organizations in 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the media company did not repeat data collection from children’s hospitals in 2021.