St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is the nation's top children's cancer hospital, according to the 2010-11 Best Children's Hospitals rankings published by U.S. News & World Report. St. Jude received the best overall score summarizing quality of care.
"This recognition is an outstanding external acknowledgment for our institution, but more importantly for the dedicated St. Jude faculty and staff who devote their time, talent and lives to the young patients we see every day," said Dr. William E. Evans, St. Jude director and CEO.
St. Jude is the first and only pediatric cancer center to be designated as a Comprehensive Cancer Center by the National Cancer Institute. And St. Jude is the only pediatric cancer research center where families never pay for treatment not covered by insurance. No child is ever denied treatment because of the family's inability to pay. Since opening in 1962, the research conducted at St. Jude has helped push the survival rates for childhood cancers from 20 percent to 80 percent today. St. Jude has achieved a survival rate of 94 percent for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) the most common form of childhood cancer. Today, St. Jude continues to conduct the breakthrough research that is changing the way some of the deadliest childhood diseases are treated.
"We are thrilled that we have achieved this extraordinary accomplishment," said Richard C. Shadyac Jr., CEO of ALSAC, the fundraising organization of St. Jude. "This ranking rightly recognizes our incredible hard work, talent and dedication to the St. Jude mission of finding cures and saving children."
U.S. News & World Report, noted for its extensive and comprehensive ranking systems in education and health care, has published the annual America's Best Hospitals since 1990. Since 2007, pediatric hospital rankings have been published separately under America's Best Children's Hospitals.
The hospitals were judged on three areas: reputation; medical outcomes such as cancer survival; and quality of care.
The 2010-11 America's Best Children's Hospitals rankings are online at www.usnews.com/childrenshospitals. They will be published in the August issue of U.S. News & World Report, available on newsstands in July.
This latest recognition is one of several that underscores St. Jude's unique role in the charitable and health care landscape. In March 2010, St. Jude was the charity ranked highest in trust in the United States, according to a public survey conducted by the international research firm Harris Interactive. In addition, St. Jude is the first and only pediatric cancer center designated as a Comprehensive Cancer Center by the National Cancer Institute. In 2009, Parents magazine ranked St. Jude as the number 1 pediatric cancer care hospital in the country, based on the magazine's survey of 75 hospitals nationwide.
