US News ranks Sacramento, Madera children’s hospitals in top 10 for California, Pacific Coast
US News and World Report recognized two Central Valley health care teams – Sacramento’s UC Davis Children’s Hospital and Madera’s Valley Children’s Healthcare and Hospital – in its 2023-24 rankings of the nation’s best pediatric hospitals.
“It is our privilege to provide nationally ranked pediatric care, close to home, right here in Sacramento,” said Brad Simmons, chief administrator of UC Davis Medical Center and UC Davis Children’s Hospital. “Our physicians, nurses and support staff put their heart into everything that they do to support our patient families. Congratulations to our entire team for delivering the highest quality of care to our children and their families.”
Valley Children’s Chief Executive Officer Todd Suntrapak said.“These rankings are a testament to the exceptional treatment, unwavering dedication, expertise and genuine compassion of our doctors and staff toward every child we are privileged to care for,” says “We are humbled by the recognition and we never lose sight that the true reward lies in knowing that kids right here in the Central Valley are receiving the best care possible.”
US News has compiled this ranking for 17 years now as a way to help parents of sick children and their pediatricians find the best children’s hospital to treat their illness or condition, said Ben Harder, chief of health analysis and managing editor at US News.
The magazine sent surveys to more than 200 children’s hospital and received information back from 119 of them. They used this data and surveys from thousands of pediatric specialists to rank the hospital care teams in 10 pediatric specialties. The two Central Valley hospitals received rankings in all but two specialties: pediatric cancer and pediatric cardiology and heart surgery.
Valley Children’s ranked nationally in seven different specialties:
▪ 25th in pediatric orthopedics
▪ 28th in pediatric pulmonology and lung surgery
▪ 29th in neonatology, a field focused on the treatment and care of newborns
▪ 31st in pediatric urology
▪ 38th in pediatric neurology and neurosurgery
▪ 45th in pediatric gastroenterology and gastrointestinal surgery
▪ 50th in pediatric diabetes and endocrinology
UC Davis earned rankings in three specialties:
▪ 20th in pediatric orthopedics, a distinction it shares with its longstanding partner, Shriner’s Hospital for Children-Northern California
▪ 34th in pediatric nephrology, a branch of medicine that deals with the physiology and diseases of the kidney
▪ 41st in pediatric diabetes and endocrinology
Dr. Michelle James, chief of orthopedic surgery at Shriners Children’s Northern California, said: “For pediatric orthopedists, our greatest professional joy is helping children accomplish things that are important to them. I applaud our physicians, nurses, care teams and staff for their ongoing leadership, innovation and collaboration, allowing us to provide the highest quality care for our patients.”
US News ranks top CA children’s hospital
Their scores in these specialties earned both UC Davis and Valley Children’s a place among the top 10 children’s hospitals in California and on the Pacific Coast. The top finishers in the Golden State are:
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego
Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford in Palo Alto
UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals, San Francisco and Oakland
UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital, Los Angeles
CHOC Children’s Hospital in Orange
Valley Children’s
Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital
UC Davis
MemorialCare Miller Children’s and Women’s Hospital Long Beach
When the California hospitals were evaluated against their Pacific Coast peers, Children’s Hospital LA and Rady’s remained in the top two positions. Lucile Packard and UCSF Benioff tied with Seattle Children’s Hospital at No. 3, and UCLA Mattel slipped to No. 6. CHOC was 7; Valley Children’s, 8. The Doernbecher Children’s Hospital at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Ore., weighed in at No. 9. UC Davis and Loma Linda shared the No. 10 spot.
What’s the No. 1 children’s hospital in US?
Nationwide, the magazine said, 89 hospitals secured a ranking in at least one of the 10 pediatric specialties. Ten of the nation’s hospitals earned a place on the U.S. News Best Children’s Hospitals Honor Roll because they ranked highly in many specialties.
Here’s the honor roll:
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
Boston Children’s Hospital
Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Children’s National Hospital, Washington, D.C.
Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, Ohio
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego
Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, Baltimore
UCSF Health CEO Suresh Gunasekaran said: “Our teams are driven by a passion to deliver the highest-quality care to young patients, including the most vulnerable. I am so proud of the continued national recognition of their excellence. Having a world-class pediatric enterprise as part of our health system is critical to UCSF Health’s ability to care for all members of the Bay Area community.”
