U.S. News & World Report has solidified a timeline and methodology for its annual rankings for children's hospitals.
On Sept. 17, hospitals that submitted data to U.S. News in 2024 will receive access to an embargoed preview of their results, the media company said Sept. 3. The official rankings will be published on Oct. 8.
U.S. News is also making some changes to its methodology. This year's rankings will include a new specialty, pediatric and adolescent behavioral health, featuring 50 top programs. This is the first specialty added to the rankings in more than a decade and a half.
"U.S. News developed its approach to evaluating this specialty with input and encouragement from pediatric healthcare leaders and with a keen awareness of consumers' informational demands," the media company said. "Given the growing mental health crisis among America's youth, exacerbated by the pandemic, families' needs for information about options for behavioral healthcare is greater than ever."
The media company will not assign ordinal ranks to any of the top 50 programs within the pediatric and adolescent behavioral health specialty. Instead, programs will receive equal recognition as the best hospitals for that specialty.
In 2023, U.S. News removed ordinal rankings from its honor roll hospitals as part of its Best Hospitals ranking methodology. In addition, this year's 10 Best Children's Hospitals honor roll will also not be ordinally ranked. Honor roll hospitals will be ranked No. 1 (or may be tied for the top spot) in their respective regional rankings.
U.S. News also announced its plans to "meaningfully reduce" the length of the pediatric hospital survey beginning with the 2025 survey. More information is available here.