A Charleston hospital has earned a top-five ranking among children’s hospitals across the Southeast in a closely watched national assessment of pediatric care.
The Medical University of South Carolina’s Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital, located on McClennan Banks Drive in downtown Charleston, was named the top-ranked children’s hospital in South Carolina and came in at No. 5 in the Southeast region overall. The rankings mark the 20th year the assessment has been produced, with this year’s edition recognizing 90 children’s hospitals across 34 states and Washington, D.C., after researchers analyzed clinical data from 114 hospitals nationwide and surveyed thousands of pediatric specialists across 11 medical specialties.
The recognition adds to Charleston’s standing as a regional hub for specialized medical care, giving families across the Lowcountry — and often well beyond it — a nationally ranked option for pediatric treatment without traveling out of state. Rankings like this weigh factors such as clinical outcomes, staffing levels, and specialty-specific care quality rather than any single statistic, which is part of why the assessment carries weight with both families and referring physicians.
For a hospital serving one of the fastest-growing metro areas in the state, the ranking is also a marker of how the region’s health care infrastructure has kept pace with population growth over the past two decades.
