Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital, in partnership with University of Utah Health, is ranked by U.S. News & World Report in all 11 pediatric specialties that it evaluates – and is ranked in the Top 25 in the nation in six specialties – as part of the magazine’s 2025 rankings of the Best Children’s Hospitals in America.

Top 25 Rankings:

• Cardiology & Heart Surgery: #12
• Neurology & Neurosurgery: #16
• Nephrology: #18
• Gastroenterology & GI Surgery: #20
• Orthopedics: #22
• Urology: #22

Top 50 Rankings:

• Behavioral Health: Top 50
• Cancer: #37
• Diabetes & Endocrine Disorders: #37
• Neonatology: #39
• Pulmonology & Lung Surgery: #42

How Best Children’s Hospitals are Determined:

U.S. News & World Report’s Best Children’s Hospitals Rankings ranks the nation’s top 50 children’s hospitals annually in 11 pediatric specialties to help patients, their families, and healthcare providers make informed decisions about their healthcare. These rankings are based on clinical data including patient outcomes, safety, reputation, and technological capabilities.  

The 11 specialties evaluated by the magazine include behavioral health, cancer, cardiology and heart surgery, diabetes and endocrinology, gastroenterology and GI surgery, neonatology, nephrology, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopedics, pulmonology and lung surgery, and urology.

Commitment to Excellence

“This is a remarkable recognition for our passionate caregivers, and a testament to the teamwork and collaboration that they demonstrate daily to ensure that our patients receive the very best care anywhere in the nation. I’m so proud of our team and grateful for their relentless pursuit of excellence for the young patients we serve,” said Dustin Lipson, president of Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital, Salt Lake Campus, and regional president of children’s health for Intermountain Health.

New Behavioral Health Services Ranking

Since this is only the second year for behavioral health rankings, U.S. News again chose to simply list the top 50 hospitals, which included Primary Children’s, but did not assign exact rankings to each program. 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.