Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU ranks for third year in a row in U.S. News & World Report’s Best Children’s Hospitals

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U.S. News & World Report has placed Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU in the new 2015-16 Best Children’s Hospitals rankings.

Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU ranked No. 48 in nephrology.

The Best Children’s Hospitals rankings highlight U.S. News’ top 50 U.S. pediatric facilities in cancer, cardiology and heart surgery, diabetes and endocrinology, gastroenterology and gastrointestinal surgery, neonatology, nephrology, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopedics, pulmonology and urology. Based on a combination of clinical data and reputation surveys of pediatric specialists, 83 hospitals ranked in at least one specialty.

“It is an honor to once again be ranked among the nation’s top children’s hospitals for pediatric kidney care,” said Leslie G. Wyatt, senior vice president of children’s services and executive director of Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU. “Our continued presence in the rankings is a reflection of the expertise of our nephrology team, CHoR’s full bench of pediatric specialists and staff required to provide comprehensive care to children with kidney disease, and our commitment to advancing children's health.”

Most of each hospital’s score relied on patient outcomes and care-related resources. U.S. News garnered clinical data from a detailed questionnaire sent to 184 pediatric hospitals. A sixth of the score came from annual surveys of pediatric specialists and subspecialists in each specialty in 2013, 2014 and 2015. They were asked where they would send the sickest children in their specialty, setting aside considerations of location and expense.

“The pediatric centers that are ranked in Best Children’s Hospitals deserve our congratulations,” said U.S. News Health Rankings Editor Avery Comarow. “Children with life-threatening or rare conditions need the kind of care that these hospitals deliver day after day.”

“Our national ranking is a result of teamwork and innovative research initiatives that enable us to improve delivery of care,” said Timothy Bunchman, M.D., professor and chief, CHoR’s Division of Nephrology. “Our unique multidisciplinary team includes nephrologists to meet a child’s medical needs, a nurse educator to help families understand diagnosis and treatment, a social worker to meet school-related and support needs, and a dietitian to focus on nutritional goals. We also partner with pediatric specialists and pediatricians to manage the complex needs of children with kidney disease.”  

Survival rates, adequacy of nurse staffing, procedure volume and much more can be viewed on http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/pediatric-rankings and will be published in the U.S. News “Best Hospitals 2016” guidebook, which will be available Sept. 1.