Primary Children's Hospital - Salt Lake City

Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital, in partnership with University of Utah Health, has been recognized by U.S. News & World Report as one of the nation’s best children’s hospitals in all 11 pediatric specialties for 2024. This prestigious ranking includes four top 25 placements, with the hospital tied for No. 1 in the nation for neurology and neurosurgery outcomes for the third consecutive year.

Top 25 Rankings:

• Neurology & Neurosurgery: #10 (Patient outcomes ranked first in the nation)
• Cardiology & Heart Surgery: #15
• Nephrology: #22
• Gastroenterology & GI Surgery: #25

Nationally Ranked in All Other Specialties:

• Behavioral Health
• Cancer
• Diabetes & Endocrine Disorders
• Neonatal Care
• Orthopedics
• Pulmonology
• Urology

How Best Children’s Hospitals are Determined:

Now U.S. News, together with RTI International, a North Carolina-based research and consulting firm, collected and analyzed data from 108 children’s hospitals and surveyed thousands of pediatric specialists to develop their 2024/25 Best Children’s Hospital rankings. Children’s hospitals awarded a “Best” designation excelled at factors such as clinical outcomes, level and quality of hospital resources directly related to patient care and expert opinion among pediatric specialists.

Commitment to Excellence

“From our prestigious Magnet Hospital nursing designation, to our top-ranked neurology and neuro surgery patient outcomes and continued excellence in complex heart procedures, this year’s Best Children’s Hospitals rankings demonstrate our relentless pursuit of excellence for the patients we serve,” -Dustin Lipson, president of Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital, Salt Lake campus.

New Behavioral Health Services Ranking

This year, U.S. News & World Report introduced rankings for behavioral health services, and Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital is proud to be included. Improving access to behavioral health services is part of Intermountain Health’s Primary Promise to create the nation’s model health system for children.

Primary Children’s Hospital was named Top Performer on Key Quality Measures® by The Joint Commission, the leading accreditor of health care organizations in America. Primary Children’s was recognized by The Joint Commission for exemplary performance in using evidence-based clinical processes that are shown to improve care for certain conditions. Primary Children’s is one of 21 hospitals recognized for its achievement in children’s asthma. The hospital is also one in 1,099 hospitals in the U.S. earning the distinction of Top Performer on Key Quality Measures for attaining and sustaining excellence in accountability measure performance. The ratings are based on an aggregation of accountability measure data reported to The Joint Commission during the 2012 calendar year. The list of Top Performer organizations represents 33 percent of all Joint Commission-accredited hospitals reporting accountability measure performance data for 2012.

Primary Children’s and each of the hospitals that were named as a Top Performer on Key Quality Measures must:

1. Achieve cumulative performance of 95 percent or above across all reported accountability measures
2. Achieve performance of 95 percent or above on each and every reported accountability measure where there are at least 30 denominator cases; and
3. Have at least one core measure set that has a composite rate of 95 percent or above, and (within that measure set) all applicable individual accountability measures have a performance rate of 95 percent or above.

A 95 percent score means a hospital provided an evidence-based practice 95 times out of 100 opportunities to provide the practice. Each accountability measure represents an evidence-based practice – for example, providing a home management plan of care for children with asthma. Primary Children's will be recognize in The Joint Commission’s “Improving America’s Hospitals” annual report, on The Joint Commission’s Quality Check website, and in the December issues of The Joint Commission Perspectives and The Source.

Primary Children's Hospital has been recognized for the last 18 years as Accredited with Commendation by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME).

Accreditation with Commendation is awarded to providers that demonstrate compliance in all ACCME criteria and the accreditation policies. This designation is reserved for institutions that set themselves apart as a hospital that delivers high quality education, serving as an exempler of the very best in continuing medical education.

Primary Children’s Hospital is recognized as a learning organization and change agent for the physicians, patients, and outreach areas we serve.

Primary Children’s Hospital achieved Magnet recognition in September 2023 as a reflection of its nursing professionalism, teamwork and superiority in patient care. The American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Magnet Recognition Program® distinguishes organizations that meet rigorous standards for nursing excellence.

With this credential, Primary Children’s Hospital joins the global community of Magnet-recognized organizations. Just a small and select group of U.S. health care organizations have achieved Magnet recognition.

Research demonstrates that Magnet recognition provides specific benefits to health care organizations and their communities, such as:

• Higher patient satisfaction with nurse communication, availability of help and receipt of discharge information.
• Lower risk of 30-day mortality and lower failure to rescue rates.
• Higher job satisfaction among nurses.
• Lower nurse reports of intentions to leave their positions.

Magnet recognition is the gold standard for nursing excellence and is a factor when the public judges health care organizations. U.S. News & World Report’s annual showcase of “America’s Best Hospitals” includes Magnet recognition in its ranking criteria for quality of inpatient care.

The Magnet Model provides a framework for nursing practice, research, and measurement of outcomes. Through this framework, ANCC evaluates applicants across a number of components and dimensions to gauge an organization’s nursing excellence.

The foundation of this model comprises various elements deemed essential to delivering superior patient care. These include the quality of nursing leadership and coordination and collaboration across specialties, as well as processes for measuring and improving the quality and delivery of care.

To nurses, Magnet Recognition means education and development through every career stage, which leads to greater autonomy at the bedside. To patients, it means the very best care, delivered by nurses who are supported to be the very best that they can be.

For more information about the Magnet Recognition Program and current statistics, visit www.nursingworld.org/magnet.