The latest U.S. News & World Report ranked five UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital specialties among the best in the nation in its 2024-25 survey of pediatric hospitals.
The specialties ranked in the top 50 nationally include pulmonology and lung surgery (No. 23), diabetes and endocrinology (No. 33), cardiology and heart surgery (No. 38), and cancer (No. 49).
UF Health’s pediatric behavioral health is also recognized nationally as a top 50 specialty.
According to a UF Health release sent Tuesday, “This is the first year U.S. News has offered a ranking in behavioral health, and it’s the first new specialty added to the ranking by the publication in more than 15 years. A behavioral health specialty is either in the nation’s top 50 or not, with no numerical ranking.”
Overall, UF Health was tied at No. 10 in the Southeast while being among the top Florida pediatric hospitals, including John Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Peterburg (8), Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando (10), and Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Florida (10).
“I’m very proud of our pediatrics team and the critical work they do each day to ensure that a community’s greatest asset, its children and adolescents, receive superb care and attention,” said Dr. Steve Motew, president and CEO of the UF Health clinical enterprise, in the release. “Families entrust us with this great responsibility. And we’re all deeply committed to give them our best.”
On the U.S. News & Worlds website, the survey “gathers key clinical data from over 100 medical centers through a detailed survey that looks at measures such as patient safety, infection prevention and adequacy of nurse staffing. In 2024-25, only 88 children’s hospitals were ranked in at least one of the 11 pediatric specialties we evaluate.”
In the 2023-24 survey, UF Health Shands Pediatrics Hospital received the No. 3 ranking for pediatrics hospitals in Florida. UF earned the No. 1 honors in Florida in 2022-23.