About Cincinnati Children's

U.S. News & World Report ranked the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine as the third best pediatric program at a medical school in the United States, behind only the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University.  The UC Department of Pediatrics is comprised entirely of faculty members from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

The third-place ranking, based on a survey of medical school deans and senior faculty, is in the 2015 edition of the U.S. News & World Report guide to America’s best graduate schools.

Cincinnati Children’s has again attained Magnet recognition as part of the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Magnet Recognition Program. This voluntary credentialing program for hospitals recognizes excellence in nursing. This credential is the highest honor an organization can receive for professional nursing practice.

“What matters most about this recognition is that the kids win again,” says Cheryl Hoying, PhD, RN, senior vice president, patient services, at Cincinnati Children’s. “Outstanding care provided by highly skilled and caring staff − that's what we're all about and what Magnet recognizes.”

To achieve initial Magnet recognition, organizations must pass a rigorous and lengthy process that demands widespread participation from leadership and staff.  Cincinnati Children’s was granted Magnet status in 2009.

An organization seeking to reapply for Magnet recognition must provide documented evidence of how Magnet concepts, performance, and quality were sustained and improved during the previous four years.

Out of nearly 6,000 hospitals in the United States, fewer than 7 percent have earned Magnet recognition.

The Heart Institute at Cincinnati Children’s has been named the first accredited Pediatric Heart Failure Institute in the United States.

The Healthcare Accreditation Colloquium's designation recognized the Heart Institute for seeking “pre-eminence in heart care.”

Through an aggressive improvement initiative, Cincinnati Children’s ensured medically ready patients leave the hospital more quickly, freeing up critical bed space for waiting patients. International healthcare experts have named Cincinnati Children’s the 2013 Pediatric Quality Award overall winner.  

The annual award is given by the Children’s Hospital Association for exceptional clinical and business improvements in children’s hospitals that are making a significant impact on healthcare for sick children. This project was selected from more than 85 entries.

Cincinnati Children’s decreased patient length of stay by having physicians prioritize their patient rounds for children who are medically ready for discharge and redesigning its pharmacy to manage prescriptions more efficiently.

DiversityInc announced that Cincinnati Children’s took the fourth spot on the 2014 Top 10 Hospitals and Health Systems List. More than a thousand public and privately held companies competed for spots on the list that was first published in 2001.

“Our foundational core value is ‘respect everyone,’ ” says President and CEO Michael Fisher. “At Cincinnati Children’s, diversity means embracing both the similarities and differences of our colleagues to accelerate our ability to change the outcome for kids.”

“Linking cultural competency, diversity and patient experience has propelled Cincinnati Children’s to be one of the leading pediatric medical centers in the world,” says James Page, assistant vice president, Diversity, Inclusion and Cultural Competence.

The Profiles in Diversity Journal recognized Cincinnati Children’s for efforts to improve diversity at the medical center. The magazine noted our innovations to help transgender teens, reduce health disparities among minority children, support military and veteran families, improve diversity in research and to provide universal signage.
Read more about the Innovations in Diversity Award.

The Human Rights Campaign has named Cincinnati Children's a 2016 Healthcare Equality Leader in recognition of our care for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) patients and families. 

The Healthcare Equality Index measures how healthcare facilities in the United States treat their LGBT patients, employees and families.  Measures include policies addressing patient and employment nondiscrimination, patient and family visitation and training in LGBT patient-centered care.

Charla Weiss, interim manager, Office of Diversity and Inclusion, said Cincinnati Children’s is committed to treating every family that visits the hospital and every employee of the organization with respect and dignity.

A decade-long performance improvement project at Cincinnati Children’s has resulted in a 43 percent decrease in mortality rates in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and a 34 percent decrease in hospital-wide mortality. 

The decrease in mortality rates also has earned the 2012 RACE for Results performance improvement award from the national Children’s Hospital Association. 

The RACE for Results award is given for exceptional clinical and business improvements in children’s hospitals. The Cincinnati Children’s project, “The Journey to High Reliability: Quality Transformation Leads to Improved Patient Outcomes,” was selected from more than 40 entries. A panel of hospital peers and international health care experts selected Cincinnati Children’s for impact and ability to replicate practices, so that peer hospitals can achieve the same results.  

Cincinnati Children’s achieved success through aggressive efforts to reduce hospital-acquired infections, implement electronic health records, improved recognition of patient deterioration, prevent codes (emergency resuscitations) outside the PICU and mandate staff training throughout the hospital.

“The PICU is at the center of our hospital system and interacts with almost every other clinical service in the hospital,” says Derek Wheeler, MD, director of the PICU and associate patient safety officer at Cincinnati Children’s. “In addition, the vast majority of deaths in our hospital occur in the PICU.  The PICU is our ‘canary in the coal mine.’  Improving processes of care in the hospital at large had a significant impact on the mortality rate in the PICU and throughout the hospital.” 

As part of an overall initiative dating back many years to eliminate all serious harm at the hospital, Cincinnati Children’s embarked on a journey to become a high reliability organization.  This is defined as an organization that avoids catastrophes despite existing in an unforgiving, highly complex environment where accidents occur.  Examples of high reliability organizations include commercial and military aviation, the nuclear power industry and wilderness firefighting.  Cincinnati Children’s adapted the lessons these industries learned to improve the safety and quality of care in the PICU and throughout the hospital. 

In fiscal year 2001, the mortality rate in the PICU was 4.6 percent.  Through multiple hospital-wide initiatives, the mortality rate dropped to 2.6 percent at the end of fiscal year 2011. During the same period, the hospital-wide standardized mortality ratio (actual mortality rate divided by the expected mortality) declined from 1.03 to .68.

Cincinnati Children’s has been named one of Health Care’s Most Wired by Hospitals & Health Networks for the fourth year in a row.

“We’re honored to be recognized as a Most Wired hospital,” says Marianne James, senior vice president and CIO, Information Services, Cincinnati Children’s. “Cincinnati Children’s is dedicated to being a leader in improving child health, and that means leading the way with technology too, enabling innovative research and continuous improvements in patient care.”

> Read more about the survey.

The Joint Commission, which accredits and certifies more than 15,000 healthcare organizations and programs in the United States, named Cincinnati Children’s a 2008 recipient of the Ernest Amory Codman Award. The award recognizes excellence in the use of outcomes measurement by healthcare organizations to achieve improvements in the quality and safety of healthcare.

Cincinnati Children’s was recognized for an initiative to eliminate preventable surgical site infections.

Cincinnati Children’s received the 2006 American Hospital Association-McKesson Quest for Quality Prize. This prestigious award is presented to an organization that demonstrates commitment to achieving the Institute of Medicine’s six quality aims − safety, patient-centeredness, effectiveness, efficiency, timeliness and equity. The winner is chosen by a multidisciplinary committee of healthcare and patient safety experts.

Cincinnati Children’s is the first pediatric hospital to win the McKesson Quest for Quality Prize.

Cincinnati Children’s, as a member of the Greater Cincinnati Patient Safety ICU Collaborative, received the 2005 Joint Commission’s Ernest Amory Codman Award. The Codman Award showcases the effective use of performance measurement by healthcare organizations to improve the quality and safety of healthcare.

Cincinnati Children’s was one of 10 hospitals working together throughout the Greater Cincinnati Health Council to implement evidence-based practices to reduce central line and surgical site infections.

According to the Joint Commission, the collaborative successfully created a “community of practice” that resulted in increased innovation, sharing of successful strategies, reduced rework and decreased learning curves.

Cincinnati Children’s received the 2008 Picker Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Patient-Centered Care. The award is given by the Picker Institute, an international nonprofit organization that has pioneered the creation of scientifically valid nationwide surveys and databanks on patient-centered care to educate doctors and hospital staff in how to improve service for their patients.

The Picker Awards for Excellence were established in 2003 to recognize individuals and organizations who have committed themselves to improving the patient experience, whether in a hospital or doctor’s office. 

Cincinnati Children’s was inducted in to the Cincinnati Business Courier’s “Best Places to Work Hall of Fame” in November 2008 after several inclusions on the annual list.

A national magazine, Modern Healthcare, ranked Cincinnati Children’s the 35th best place to work in healthcare. The top 100 organizations are listed in the publication’s Oct. 27, 2008, issue.

The honor “recognizes workplaces in healthcare that enable employees to perform at their optimum level to provide patients and customers with the best possible care and services,” according to the magazine.