University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital earns national children’s surgery verification from American College of Surgeons

UH Rainbow is a Level 1 Children’s Surgery Center – the highest designation for quality and safety a hospital can receive

University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital (UH Rainbow) received verification as Level 1 Children’s Surgery Center from the American College of Surgeons Children’s Surgery Verification Program (ACS CSV). This is the highest designation a children’s hospital can receive for providing high quality pediatric surgical care. UH Rainbow is one of only two children’s hospitals in northern Ohio to achieve this prestigious verification, and among four in the state.

“We are incredibly pleased to receive the Level 1 designation from the American College of Surgeons, as it represents the highest quality of health care for children who require surgery,” said Michael Dingeldein, MD, FACS, FAAP, FCCM, Medical Director of Children’s Surgery, UH Rainbow. “Kids are not simply small adults, which is why our talented team of anesthesiologists, nurses, surgeons, and critical support staff have extensive experience and expertise in surgical therapies for newborns to young adults and all ages in between.”

To become a verified center, UH Rainbow met essential criteria for staffing, training, and facility infrastructure and protocols for care. The ACS CSV program was developed to improve the quality of children’s surgical care by creating a system across the entire care continuum that allows for a prospective match of every child’s individual surgical needs with a care environment that has optimal pediatric resources. Verified centers must meet criteria outlined in the standards document, Optimal Resources for Children’s Surgical Care. CSV standards ensure that children facing surgery receive care under a multidisciplinary program with quality improvement and safety processes, data collection, and appropriate resources provided to them as patients at the hospital.

The CSV program is based on other nationally recognized ACS quality improvement programs that have measurably improved surgical quality and have prevented complications, reduced costs, and saved lives. After submitting an application, centers seeking verification undergo an extensive site visit by an ACS team of surveyors. The surveyor teams consist of experienced children’s surgeons, anesthesiologists, and nurses who review the center's structure, process, and clinical outcomes data.

Surgeons at UH Rainbow provides 24-hour care for elective and emergency needs of patients from birth to 21 years of age, covering all conditions and illnesses that affect the body. The pediatric surgery and quality expertise at UH Rainbow extends across the specialties of anesthesia, cardiothoracic surgery, general pediatric surgery, oral, dental and maxillofacial surgery, orthopedics, otolaryngology (ENT), ophthalmology, neurosurgery, urology and trauma surgery. UH Rainbow has been continuously verified as a level I Pediatric Trauma Center by ACS for more than three decades, and is one of only two designated level I pediatric trauma centers in northern Ohio.

In addition to surgical and trauma care, UH Rainbow is a national leader in quality, emergency medicine and pediatric preparedness for disasters and health events like the coronavirus pandemic.

In 2021, Health Resources and Services Administration awarded more than $48 million – the largest grant in UH Rainbow’s history – to establish a Regional Pediatric Pandemic Network. The network supports the planning and preparation of children’s hospitals across the country to respond to global health threats, including pandemics, and support communities in everyday pediatric readiness.

Another quality indicator, UH Rainbow has been consistently recognized as a Best Children’s Hospital for 30 consecutive years by U.S. News & World Report. Currently, UH Rainbow ranks among the nation’s top 50 children’s hospitals in nine specialties, five of which rank in the top 25.

Contact: UH Media Relations