News

The Children's Hospital of Alabama has been ranked among the nation's best children's hospitals by U.S. News & World Report magazine.

This year for the first time the Children's Hospital of Alabama ("Children's") applied for consideration in the U.S. News & World Report's annual ranking of America's Best Children's Hospitals. Five of Children's pediatric specialty services were placed among the top 30 in the United States. Children's, UAB Health System and UAB's Departments of Pediatrics and Surgery collaborated to submit the requested information. Children's Hospital of Alabama is the primary site for UAB's pediatric clinical and educational programs.

The five pediatric specialty services included this year were Pediatric Neurosurgery and Neurology, Neonatology, Respiratory Services, Nephrology and Orthopedics. The complete listing and corresponding rankings may be found at www.usnews.com/childrenshospitals.

"We are excited that five of our programs were ranked among the nation's best, particularly since this was our first year to participate in the survey. More importantly, we are delighted to tell the Children's Hospital of Alabama story at a national level," said Mike Warren, Children's President and CEO. "The submission and rankings could have not been achieved without the strong relationship with UAB, our academic medical partner. The affiliation between Children's and UAB results in excellent benefits for the children and families of Alabama."

Children's is currently building a 750,000 square-foot, $399 million expansion facility on the health system's downtown Birmingham campus (to be renamed the Benjamin Russell Hospital for Children campus upon completion). This expansion will allow Children's to manage projected growth in patient volume, provide for anticipated medical technology needs, and accommodate the planned consolidation and expansion of pediatric services.

"We are very proud that our partner in the care of children has been honored with ranking in five specialties, providing evidence of the outstanding quality of care that Alabama children have come to expect and to regularly enjoy at Children's hospital," said Robert R. Rich, M.D., senior vice president and dean of the UAB School of Medicine.

The U.S. News and World Report Best Children's Hospitals rankings are based on methodology that includes reputation, clinical outcome data and other care-related measures such as nursing care, surgical volume and credentialing. Hospitals are ranked, in part, on reputational scores based on survey responses from pediatric specialists from across the country.

The listing was released in early June and the hospital rankings will be featured in the August issue of U.S. News & World Report, which will be available on newsstands in mid-July.

The Children's Hospital of Alabama is the only hospital in the state dedicated solely to the care and treatment of children and one of the 10 busiest pediatric medical centers in the U.S. One of only about 45 freestanding acute care hospitals of its kind in the nation, Children's Hospital is home to Alabama's only Level- I pediatric trauma center. Children's campus includes the largest pediatric burn center in the Southeast, one of the largest pediatric outpatient centers in the country and a leading pediatric hematology/oncology center and bone marrow transplant program. Although Children's is the primary site for pediatric clinical and educational programs within the UAB Health System, Children's Hospital is a private, not-for-profit hospital governed by a volunteer board of trustees. Children's, which experiences an excess of 600,000 outpatient and 14,000 inpatient visits each year, will celebrate its centennial anniversary in 2011.

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For information contact:

Garland Stansell
Chief Communications Officer
Children's Hospital of Alabama
1600 - 7th Avenue South
Birmingham, AL 35233

205-939-6250
garland.stansell@chsys.org