Newswise — SEATTLE – June 5, 2012: Today, U.S. News & World Report ranked Seattle Children’s Hospital among the nation’s top children’s hospitals for the 20th consecutive year. The results were announced as part of the U.S. News annual guidebook, Best Hospitals 2013, which will be available in August.

Children’s ranked 6th in this year’s honor roll – meaning it’s the 6th highest ranked children’s hospital in the nation – the hospital’s highest ranking yet. Last year Children’s ranked 7th.

Children’s was also 3rd in the country for its nephrology program, 5th for urology, 7th for cancer and 8th for neurology/neurosurgery. Other Children’s programs receiving top recognition by U.S. News included cardiology/heart surgery, pulmonary, orthopedics, neonatology, gastroenterology and diabetes/endocrinology.

“Our rankings as a top children’s hospital by U.S. News for the past two decades, are due to the remarkable work of our courageous physicians, nurses, researchers, and staff, as well as the patient families who work in partnership with us,” said Thomas Hansen, MD, CEO at Children’s. “Together with the support of our community, we will continue to work towards improving treatment outcomes, discovering new cures, and caring for every child who needs us.”

This year, U.S. News surveyed 178 pediatric centers to obtain hard data such as availability of key resources and ability to prevent complications and infections. The hospital survey made up 75 percent of the rankings. A separate reputational survey in which 1,500 pediatric specialists—150 in each specialty—were asked where they would send the sickest children in their specialty made up the remaining 25 percent.

Supporting materials:• Details about the methodology and final rankings may be found at: http://www.usnews.com/childrenshospitals.

• Additional details on Children’s nephrology, urology, cancer and neurology/neurosurgery programs can be found here: http://pulse.seattlechildrens.org/u-s-news-world-report-ranks-seattle-childrens-hospital-6th-among-nations-childrens-hospitals/

About Seattle Children's HospitalConsistently ranked as one of the best children’s hospitals in the country by U.S. News & World Report, Children’s serves as the pediatric and adolescent academic medical referral center for the largest landmass of any children’s hospital in the country (Washington, Alaska, Montana and Idaho). For more than 100 years, Children’s has been delivering superior patient care and advancing new treatments through pediatric research. Children’s serves as the primary teaching, clinical and research site for the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine. The hospital works in partnership with Seattle Children’s Research Institute and Seattle Children’s Hospital Foundation. For more information visit http://www.seattlechildrens.org.