Kosair Children's Hospital in Louisville, Ky., the pediatric arm of Norton Healthcare, has been named as one of the nation’s top pediatric facilities by US News & World Report magazine today.  Admitting more than 200 children a day, Kosair Nursing was singled out for its nursing excellence, because of its status as a Nurse Magnet facility. Special recognition was given for its patient and family services, which include computer work stations, a family resource center, and sleep areas for parents and siblings.

The 2012-13 Best Children's Hospitals features 80 different hospitals that ranked among the top 50 in at least one of 10 specialties: cancer, cardiology and heart surgery, diabetes and endocrinology, gastroenterology, neonatology, nephrology, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopedics, pulmonology, and urology.  Kosair Children’s was specifically honored for being:  #16 in Pediatric Cancer, #38 in Pediatric Cardiology & Heart Surgery, #49 in Pediatric Nephrology, #29 in Pediatric Neurology & Neurosurgery, #24 in Pediatric Orthopedics, #24 in Pediatric Pulmonology, and #31 in Pediatric Urology. 

The rankings rely on an extensive data survey sent to a carefully selected set of hospitals, and a reputational survey sent to pediatric specialists. For the specialist survey, 150 physicians in each specialty were asked to name up to five hospitals they consider best for children with serious or difficult problems in their field, without regard to cost or geography. The last three years of responses were totaled.

Most of the 178 centers that were asked to complete the 95-page data survey are freestanding children's hospitals or large, multispecialty pediatric departments of major medical centers, run with their own staffs, ORs, and other facilities as if they were a hospital within a hospital. Other children's facilities were surveyed because they were previously ranked or were recommended by trusted sources. This year 100 hospitals completed the survey.

The magazine also ranks Norton Healthcare as the Number 1 hospital in the Louisville Metro area; with 12 “high-performing” specialties.  Kosair Children’s is ranked as the Number 1 pediatric hospital in the area; with 7 “nationally ranked” specialties.

FULL DISCLOSURE:  I was a polio patient at Kosair for 6 months in 1951, when the hospital was located at its old facility onEastern Parkway.  The nurses and physical therapists there taught me how to walk all over again.  My family did not have health insurance back in those days, and were never presented with a bill by those wonderful folks.  Years later, when my infant son experienced a severe neonatal infection, he was treated at the new Kosair Children’s Hospital for almost a week.  They saved his life.

Accordingly, readers should expect a certain degree of bias from this writer, in any discussion involvingKosair Hospital.

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