National Magazine Recognizes Baystate Children’s Hospital

SPRINGFIELD — For the second consecutive year, U.S. News & World Report has ranked Baystate Children’s Hospital among the top programs in the nation in pediatric endocrinology and diabetes.

The “Best Children’s Hospitals” rankings highlight the magazine’s top 50 U.S. pediatric facilities in cancer, cardiology and heart surgery, diabetes and endocrinology, gastroenterology and GI surgery, neonatology, nephrology, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopedics, pulmonology, and urology. Just 89 hospitals across the nation ranked in at least one specialty, based on a combination of clinical data and reputation with pediatric specialists.

“We’re proud to again be recognized among the top pediatric medical teams in the nation,” said Dr. Laura Koenigs, interim chair of Pediatrics at Baystate Children’s Hospital. “This honor is a testament to the skill, compassion, and dedication of so many caregivers, who are addressing one of the most important health challenges in our community, diabetes. It’s gratifying to know our care is delivering on our promise and making a difference.

“Diabetes in children has the potential to significantly affect their overall health throughout their entire lives,” she added. “Helping our patients and their families manage this and other endocrine disorders can have a huge impact on their well-being and success. I congratulate our doctors, nurses, and other team members on this sustained success — and its positive implications for our patients and community.”

Five-sixths of each hospital’s score relied on patient outcomes and the care-related resources each hospital makes available. To gather clinical data, U.S. News sent a clinical questionnaire to 183 pediatric hospitals. The remaining one-sixth of the score derived from a survey of 450 pediatric specialists and subspecialists in each specialty over three years. The 4,500 physicians were asked where they would send the sickest children in their specialty, setting aside location and expense.

“The largest part of our ranking is related to outcomes — how well our young patients do in our care,” said Dr. Evan Benjamin, senior vice president of Healthcare Quality for Baystate Health. “It’s a point of pride that, at a time when the quality and efficiency of our care has never been more important or more closely examined, we are demonstrating nationally ranked performance right here, close to home, in Western Mass.”

In the 2014-15 “Best Children’s Hospitals” rankings for pediatric endocrinology and diabetes, Baystate ranked 48th nationally.

Said U.S. News Health Rankings Editor Avery Comarow, “we know how important it is to parents to have confidence in pediatric centers that show dedication and expertise in caring for a child facing a life-threatening, rare, or demanding illness.”

Baystate Children’s Hospital provides a comprehensive range of pediatric primary care and inpatient and outpatient subspecialty services. Among its Springfield-based services are the region’s only neonatal and pediatric intensive-care units, the Baystate Family Advocacy Center, the Sadowsky Family Pediatric Emergency Department, and the newly opened Baystate Children’s Specialty Center, a kid-centered facility that enables teams of pediatric specialists to care for children and families in the same space at the same time.

The Baystate Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes program is composed of a team of providers, nurses, certified diabetes educators, nutritionists, a social worker, and staff who provide personalized care to more than 500 children and adolescents with diabetes. With partial support from a grant from the state Department of Public Health, the Baystate pediatric diabetes team has partnered with school nurses in Springfield and outlying cities and towns to improve diabetes care in the schools.