MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital achieves national rankings in annual U.S. News & World Report’s Best Children’s Hospitals

MUSC SJCH only children’s hospital in South Carolina to be ranked

Charleston, S.C. (June 16, 2019) – New rankings from U.S. News & World Report’s (USNWR) 2020-21 Best Children’s Hospitals survey place the MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital in the No. 1 position for the Southeast region in cardiology and heart surgery. It’s also once again the only children’s hospital in South Carolina to be ranked. The latest rankings are published online and come just four months after the hospital opened, and as South Carolina deals with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The leading specialties for MUSC Children’s Hospital include: No. 10 for cardiology and heart surgery, No. 30 for nephrology, No. 43 for gastroenterology and GI surgery, and No. 44 for cancer. USNWR issues the annual rankings “to help families with complex and rare conditions find the best medical care for their children,” according to the publication’s website. They’re designed to steer parents and caregivers to the hospitals that are best equipped to treat their children.

“These rankings are a testament to the outstanding effort and quality of care our teams provide on a daily basis, as well as an incredible amount of tenacity and skill in delivering care to our patients and families while we planned the transition into our new hospital facility during this ranking period,” said Mark A. Scheurer, M.D., MUSC Children’s Health chief of clinical services. “We’re working hard every day to transform the delivery of care to children and women in the Lowcountry and throughout South Carolina with this new hospital and our overall mission. These rankings are one of many measures that demonstrate what an outstanding team we have at MUSC.”

This is the 13th consecutive year that the top 10 ranked cardiology and heart surgery program has made the overall Best Children’s Hospitals list. Criteria include children’s survival rate after complex heart surgery, along with the level of specialized staff, services and technologies and the ability to prevent infections. 

The nephrology program at the MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital ranks No. 30 in the U.S. That means it excels when it comes the survival rate of children who have kidney transplants, the management of dialysis and infection prevention and other factors. It maintains its status as the highest ranked children’s kidney program in South Carolina.

The GI and GI surgery program is no stranger to the U.S. News rankings, either. For the 13th year in a row, it made the grade, coming in at No. 43. The rankings factor in the survival rate for children who have liver transplants, the effectiveness of the hospital’s treatment of children who have inflammatory bowel issues and other key measures. Like all of the rankings, the GI rankings also include input from specialists in the field who responded to U.S. News surveys and recommend the hospital for serious cases in GI care.

Finally, the MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital’s cancer program at ranks No. 44 on the list of Best Children’s Hospitals for Cancer. That’s based in part on the 5-year survival rate for children with for leukemia-related cancer, bone marrow transplant services, programs for brain tumors and sarcomas and infection prevention.

The 14th annual rankings highlight the top 50 U.S. pediatric hospitals in each of 10 specialties: cancer, cardiology and heart surgery, diabetes and endocrinology, gastroenterology and GI surgery, neonatology, nephrology, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopedics, pulmonology and urology. 

Current methodology combines clinical and operational data, results from a reputational survey of board-certified pediatric specialists, and supplemental information from resources such as the National Cancer Institute. RTI International collects and analyzes the data for the rankings. The methodology reflects clinical outcomes, such as patient survival, infection rates and complications; the level and quality of hospital resources directly related to patient care, such as staffing, technology and special services; delivery of health care, such as programs that prevent infections and adherence to best practices; and expert opinion among pediatric specialists. 

"Our MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital care team members have been cited for the incredible care they are delivering every day,” said Patrick J. Cawley, M.D., MUSC Health CEO and University vice president for Health Affairs. “These amazing care team members are leading the standard and quality of care in many respects across the state and beyond, and it’s inspiring to watch them grow into their new, state-of-the-art home. I can’t wait to see what they will do next to change what’s possible for our patients and their families.”

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About MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital and Pearl Tourville Women’s Pavilion 

The MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital (SJCH) consists of 250 beds and opened in February 2020 as a replacement facility for the MUSC Children’s Hospital built in the late 1980s and formerly located on Ashley Avenue. More than 200 care team members, MUSC leaders, administrators, family and patient representatives were instrumental in the concept, design and building of this facility. By providing the most advanced pediatric care possible in more than 26 specialty areas in person or through a robust telehealth network, SJCH includes a Level 1 trauma center and emergency department, the state’s only pediatric burn center and solid-organ and bone marrow transplant programs, the state’s largest Level 4 neonatal intensive care unit, an advanced maternal fetal medicine center, and a top 10 ranked U.S. News & World Report children’s heart program which functions through a nationally-unique, statewide collaboration of pediatric heart surgeons and cardiologists. 

Housed within the SJCH, the Pearl Tourville Women’s Pavilion (PTWP) seamlessly integrates children’s care and obstetrical services, thereby enhancing safety and improving outcomes in high-risk pregnancies. We understand that everyone plans on a healthy, normal birth, and for those who have that outcome, we want them to enjoy our top-notch labor and delivery care. Not all families have this opportunity, and they too, deserve a place of compassion, expertise and excellent care. Working collaboratively with the advanced maternal fetal care center for families expecting babies with complex congenital birth defects and medical problems, PTWP care providers will be one of only a handful of teams in the country able to offer couplet-care rooms, where newborns and mothers can recover together in an intensive-care setting.