The U.S. News & World Report Best Children’s Hospitals rankings are released annually each summer. Data from the previous calendar year is collected for the Pediatric Hospital Survey, which is submitted to U.S. News each February by participating hospitals.

In 2018, 10 specialties were included in the rankings: Cancer, Cardiology & Heart Surgery, Diabetes & Endocrinology, Gastroenterology & GI Surgery, Neonatology, Nephrology, Neurology & Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Pulmonology and Urology.

In addition to the specialty rankings, an honor roll recognizes the 10 hospitals with the highest rankings across all 10 specialties. This year, points were given to a hospital based on its rank in each specialty, and the points were totaled. The 10 hospitals with the most points were placed on the Honor Roll, with their ranking determined by their point totals.

U.S. News adjusts its methodology each year. In 2018, the organization made few changes to the measures and weights. More changes are expected in 2019.

Year-round, Johns Hopkins faculty Jeffrey Jacobs, Aaron Milstone and Jessica Rice, and pediatric radiology technology manager Elyce Wolfgang—along with other faculty members at children’s hospitals nationwide—work closely with representatives from U.S. News to revise the methodology to reflect current literature and best practices, and to gauge the true quality of pediatric care.