10 Reasons Cleveland Clinic Children’s Is 10 for 10 in the New U.S. News Rankings

Of the 184 U.S. facilities surveyed by U.S. News & World Report for its newly released “Best Children’s Hospitals” rankings for 2015-16, only 21 were recognized for top care in all 10 specialties ranked. Cleveland Clinic Children’s is proud to be one of those 21 children’s hospitals.

To mark the achievement, this post identifies one Cleveland Clinic Children’s distinction or 2014 accomplishment in each of the 10 specialties in which it ranked among the nation’s top providers of pediatric care.

Cancer

Performed Cleveland Clinic’s first haploidentical (“half-matched”) blood and marrow transplant in a pediatric patient in 2014. This novel approach, which was used in a patient with myelodysplastic syndrome, allows identification of an appropriate donor match for almost all candidates for blood and marrow transplant.

Cardiology & Heart Surgery

Performed 10 heart transplants in pediatric patients in 2014 (and 12 transplants in congenital heart disease patients of any age) — the most in Ohio and the most ever in a single year at Cleveland Clinic.

Diabetes & Endocrinology

Continued expansion of the Glycogen Storage Disease Program, one of only three dedicated programs in the world for this rare and once-fatal inherited metabolic disorder. The program was launched in late 2012 and grew its patient base significantly in 2014.

Gastroenterology & GI Surgery

Performed three intestinal/multivisceral transplants in pediatric patients in 2014, one of the top 5 volumes in the U.S. (multivisceral transplants involve the intestine plus at least three other abdominal organs).

Neurology & Neurosurgery

Was designated in 2014 as one of only three CDKL5 Centers of Excellence in the world. The designation comes from a foundation promoting progress against a rare and severe neurodevelopmental disease linked to mutations in the CDKL5 gene.

Orthopaedics

Implanted one of the nation’s first MAGEC® magnetically controlled spinal growing rods in a child with early-onset scoliosis. This novel device, approved by the FDA in 2014, promises fewer surgeries and lower overall treatment costs for young children with severe early-onset scoliosis.

Neonatology

Marked more than 365 consecutive CLABSI-free days across all NICUs in the Cleveland Clinic Children’s network from late 2013 to late 2014.

Nephrology

Continued to be the only center in northern Ohio offering both a dedicated pediatric outpatient dialysis center and a pediatric kidney transplant program.

Pulmonology

Successfully managed one of the nation’s largest populations of pediatric patients infected with enterovirus D68 during the 2014 outbreak of this rare respiratory virus.

Urology

Successfully performed the first robotically assisted pediatric partial nephrectomy at Cleveland Clinic. The procedure was one of 12 robotically assisted pediatric surgeries of any type performed in 2014 — Cleveland Clinic Children’s highest annual count to date, and one of the highest in the nation.

A few more points of distinction

2014 was a year of additional distinctions for Cleveland Clinic Children’s beyond the 10 pediatric specialties ranked by U.S. News & World Report. Here’s a sampling of a few others:

• Autism: Identified a pattern of brain abnormalities and cognitive deficits in a subgroup of children with autism — those with mutations in a gene called PTEN — that may help individualize therapy for kids with the mutation.
• General Pediatrics: Brought care to underserved communities with launch of the School-Based Health Care unit, a pediatric office on wheels that regularly visits schools in inner-ring suburbs of Cleveland
• Integrative Medicine: Established the Center for Pediatric Integrative Medicine, one of the nation’s few centers for alternative and complementary therapies exclusively for pediatric patients. The center is housed at Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital for Rehabilitation, one of fewer than a dozen accredited, freestanding rehab hospitals in the nation that serve pediatric patients exclusively.
• Patient Safety: Marked three consecutive years of no adverse drug events that led to serious patient harm.