Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital Ranked One of Country’s Best

U.S. News & World Report Recognizes 5 Specialties

Spectrum Health’s Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital is listed as one of U.S. News & World Report’s 2012-13 Best Children’s Hospitals. This is the first time the hospital has appeared in the rankings.

Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital (HDVCH) was recognized in five specialties:
• Cancer – #43
• Diabetes & Endocrinology – #43
• Nephrology – #47
• Orthopedics – #46
• Urology – #44

The rankings feature 50 hospitals in each of 10 pediatric specialties: cancer, cardiology and heart surgery, diabetes and endocrinology, gastroenterology, neonatology, nephrology, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopedics, pulmonology, and urology. Eighty hospitals across the country ranked in one or more specialties.

“To be recognized on this list in any one area is an honor. To have five of our specialties acknowledged is extraordinary,” said Bob Connors, MD, president, Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital. “This honor has been earned through the hard work, exceptional skills and caring commitment demonstrated by our providers and staff. The support of this community and the trust of our patients, their families and friends inspire us each and every day to do our best.”

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.

For families of sick children, Best Children’s Hospitals provides unparalleled quality-related information in addition to rankings, including survival rates, adequacy of nurse staffing, procedure volume, and much more. Since their 2007 debut, the rankings have put an increasing emphasis on data that directly reflect hospitals’ performance over the opinions of physicians.

The full rankings and methodology are available at www.usnews.com/childrenshospitals. The rankings will also be published in the U.S. News Best Hospitals 2013 guidebook, which will be available in August.

“Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital deserves high praise for its accomplishments,” said Health Rankings Editor Avery Comarow. “Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital has a reservoir of dedication and expertise that helps the sickest kids. Our goal at U.S. News is to identify and call attention to pediatric centers like this one.”

Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital is a 212-bed regional referral center and teaching hospital. It offers advanced pediatric specialty care with nearly 200 pediatric physicians who practice in more than 50 pediatric specialties and programs. As Michigan’s largest neonatal center, Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital cares for more than 1,500 critically ill and premature babies annually. More information is available at www.helendevoschildrens.org.

Spectrum Health is a not-for-profit health system in West Michigan offering a full continuum of care through the Spectrum Health Hospital Group, which is comprised of nine hospitals including Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, a state of the art children’s hospital that opened in January 2011, and 190 service sites; the Spectrum Health Medical Group and West Michigan Heart, physician groups totaling more than 600 providers; and Priority Health, a health plan with 625,000 members. Spectrum Health is West Michigan’s largest employer with more than 18,000 employees. The organization provided $176.5 million in community benefit during its 2011 fiscal year.