LOS ANGELES — Whether for cancer therapy, scoliosis surgery, double organ transplants or even mending a broken arm, expert life-changing care for kids has been the heart of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles’ (CHLA) mission for more than 120 years. It is why CHLA maintains its unbroken 15-year streak as one of the top hospitals for pediatric care in the United States, according to U.S. News & World Report, which today released the 2023-24 edition of its prestigious Best Children’s Hospitals rankings.
CHLA is again the No. 1 children’s hospital in its home state of California and in the Pacific United States—a region that includes all the states along the West Coast, including Hawaii. CHLA also rose to No. 7 overall nationwide in this year’s Honor Roll of Best Children’s Hospitals, the gold standard of leading destinations for pediatric care, and is nationally ranked in all 10 pediatric subspecialties assessed—including No. 2 in the U.S. for Orthopedics, No. 3 for Cancer and No. 5 for Gastroenterology & GI Surgery.
“Given U.S. News & World Report’s rigorous review process, this is confirmation of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles’ longstanding commitment to delivering superior and compassionate care for patients and families,” says CHLA President and Chief Executive Officer Paul S. Viviano. “It is a testament to the hundreds of physicians and thousands of nurses and team members focused exclusively on children and youth who distinguish CHLA as the largest pediatric provider of hospital care—not only in Los Angeles but across the entire state—and as a trusted leader in family-centered clinical care and innovation.”
Additional national specialty rankings for CHLA in this year’s Best Children’s Hospitals include Cardiology & Heart Surgery (No. 13), Diabetes & Endocrinology (No. 6), Neonatology (No. 6), Nephrology (No. 24), Neurology & Neurosurgery (No. 13), Pulmonology & Lung Surgery (No. 14), and Urology (No. 6).
“Specialty rankings are an excellent indicator of the vast number of specialists providing superior care that you will find at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles,” says CHLA Chief Medical Officer James Stein, MD, MSc. “It’s no coincidence that CHLA oversees more complex pediatric cases than any other hospital in California, pediatric or adult. Every parent wants the best care for their child, and they turn to CHLA because they know that we have the experts they want for the care they need, all in one place.”
Led by nearly 8,000 team members—including nearly 1,000 pediatric specialist physicians—Children’s Hospital Los Angeles performs more than 15,000 surgeries and conducts more than 700,000 patient visits each year. As an internationally renowned pediatric academic medical center, CHLA delivers world-class medical care; conducts groundbreaking scientific research to develop new treatments and new cures for childhood diseases at The Saban Research Institute of CHLA; and operates one of the largest pediatric training programs in the country for physicians, nurses and other specialists.
Based in one of the most socioeconomically and culturally diverse cities in the world, CHLA cares for children ranging from newborn infants to young adults who come from all 50 states and 90 countries, including Canada, Mexico, and throughout Asia and the Middle East. The hospital has a dedicated Center for Global Health facilitating services for international patients and their families, which they can contact by emailing internationalpatientreferrals@chla.usc.edu.
“Our mission to create hope and build healthier futures for children reaches around the world,” says CHLA Vice President for Global Health Cindy Urbancic, MBA, BSN, RN. “We recognize that it is a monumental decision for our international patients and families to travel outside of their home countries for care. Our highly experienced International Patient Services team at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is dedicated to helping families navigate the entire process, so their children receive the culturally sensitive, specialized and expert care for which CHLA is known.”
Each year, U.S. News & World Report works with research firm RTI International to develop the Best Children’s Hospitals list. For 2023-24, they evaluated nearly 200 pediatric hospitals—including freestanding institutions like CHLA, children’s hospitals that are part of a larger health system, and specialty pediatric centers. Each was scored across hundreds of benchmarks, including quality and safety performance; patient outcomes; peer recognition; research; technology; commitment to care that is diverse, equitable and inclusive; certifications; third-party awards; and other data points provided by each hospital. U.S. News Media Group, parent company of U.S. News & World Report, published the 2023-24 hospital rankings just after midnight EST on June 21.
