21
Neonatology
9 UI Health Care specialties listed in 2024-25 ‘US News & World Report’ rankings of ‘Best Children’s Hospitals’
Children’s hospital ranked No. 1 in Iowa
University of Iowa Health Care Stead Family Children’s Hospital is included in nine pediatric specialties in the 2024-25 “Best Children’s Hospitals” rankings published by U.S. News & World Report.
Stead Family Children’s Hospital—Iowa’s only nationally ranked children’s hospital—ranks in these specialties:
25
pediatric diabetes and endocrinology
32
pediatric nephrology
34
pediatric urology
40
pediatric neurology and neurosurgery
41
pediatric cancer
47
pediatric cardiology, heart and vascular surgery
50
pediatric orthopedics
top 50
pediatric and adolescent behavioral health
The “Best Children’s Hospitals” rankings also include state and multistate regional rankings. Stead Family Children’s Hospital ranks as the No. 1 children’s hospital in Iowa and No. 11 in the Midwest region, defined by U.S. News as Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
The children’s hospital was also ranked in the top 50 of the inaugural year of a new ranking by U.S. News that examines care for pediatric and adolescent behavioral health. This is the first new ranking to be added by U.S. News in more than 15 years.
Stead Family Children’s Hospital has been ranked every year since U.S. News launched the children’s hospital rankings in 2007.
“Our long-standing leadership in pediatrics is a testament to the world-class team we have and their unwavering dedication to excellence in the care we provide,” says Jim Leste, MS, FACHE, chief administrative officer of Stead Family Children’s Hospital. “To be named in the inaugural year of a behavioral health ranking, especially when we’re seeing a greater need for these types of services, makes it clear that our care makes a difference in the lives of young Iowans.”
The “Best Children’s Hospitals” rankings, now in their 18th year, are designed to assist families and their doctors in making informed decisions about where to receive specialized pediatric care.
“There are some things that we know for sure in health care. Patients want compassionate care that’s close to home. Professionals want to work somewhere where they can make a difference in patients' lives and medicine. These rankings show that UI Health Care continues to achieve its mission of changing medicine and changing lives. Our continued ranking with U.S. News is a point of pride for us,” says Alexander Bassuk, MD, PhD, physician-in-chief of Stead Family Children’s Hospital and chair and departmental executive officer of the Stead Family Department of Pediatrics in the UI Carver College of Medicine.
U.S. News ranks the top 50 centers in 11 pediatric specialties: cancer; cardiology and heart surgery; diabetes and endocrinology; gastroenterology and gastrointestinal surgery; neonatology; nephrology; neurology and neurosurgery; orthopedics; pulmonology and lung surgery; urology; and pediatric and adolescent behavioral health. For the 2024-25 rankings, 88 of the 198 children’s hospitals surveyed were ranked among the top 50 in at least one specialty.
RTI International, a nonprofit organization headquartered in the Research Triangle Park in North Carolina, collects and analyzes the data for the “Best Children’s Hospitals” rankings.
The methodology for compiling the rankings includes clinical outcomes, such as patient survival, infection rates, and complications; the level and quality of hospital resources related to patient care, such as staffing, technology, and special services; delivery of health care, such as programs that prevent infections and adherence to best practices; and expert opinion among pediatric specialists.
For more information, visit Best Children’s Hospitals for the full rankings and use #BestHospitals on Facebook and Twitter.
Best Children's Hospital rankings Best Children's Hospitals methodology
