PHILADELPHIA, July 18, 2003 – St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children has been recognized for the third consecutive year as one of America’s best children’s medical centers by U.S.News & World Report in the publication’s July 2003 "Best Hospitals" issue. The pediatric hospital ranking was based on results of a survey sent to board-certified pediatricians asking these physicians to identify the top pediatric hospitals in the United States.

"This recognition of our hospital and clinical programs by doctors from around the country is a true mark of distinction that reflects the passion for great medicine that each member of the staff at St. Christopher’s continues to provide for the children and families who count on us for pediatric care," says Jeffrey Green, president & chief executive officer of St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children.

Founded in 1875, St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children has built a reputation for innovation and excellence in pediatric medicine and today includes an acute care hospital, ambulatory care pavilions, research laboratories, and academic programs to teach and educate the pediatricians of tomorrow. With a medical staff of more than 270 pediatric specialists, St. Christopher’s is a Level I Pediatric Trauma Center and provides programs such as kidney and liver transplantation, minimally invasive surgery, and open heart surgery for the children of the greater Philadelphia area and from around the world.

"These medical centers excel for good reasons," according to U.S.News & World Report. "For one, their doctors perform large numbers of tricky and risky procedures, and study after study shows that practice counts. The best hospitals, moreover, tend to adhere more closely to advanced treatment guidelines, to incorporate new findings into patient care, and to conduct research that gives desperately ill patients additional options." The ranking model used by U.S.News & World Report was devised and is conducted by the National Opinion Research Center, a social science research group at the University of Chicago.

According to the American Hospital Association Guide there are some 250 children’s hospitals (under 5 percent of all hospitals) including about 45 freestanding acute care children’s hospitals, virtually all of which are teaching hospitals; about 100 joint children’s hospitals, large pediatric programs organized within larger medical centers that generally call themselves children’s hospitals; and about 90 freestanding children’s rehabilitation, specialty, convalescent, or psychiatric facilities. More than 160 of these institutions, including St. Christopher’s, are members of the National Association of Children’s Hospitals and Related Institutions (NACHRI).

For more than 127 years, St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children has remained dedicated to providing compassionate, individualized and high quality care to the children it serves.