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NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital has been verified as a Level I Children’s Surgery Center by the American College of Surgeons’ (ACS) Children’s Surgery Verification Committee. A Level I verification is the organization’s highest distinction in providing quality children’s surgical care across all relevant disciplines. NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital is the only children’s hospital in New York State to receive this designation, and one of 18 in the country.

“This ACS designation is an incredible achievement and recognizes the dedication and commitment of our physicians, nurses and staff,” said Dr. Craig Albanese, senior vice president and chief operating officer at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital. “We can proudly say we are the only hospital in the tristate area providing this level of surgical care to every child and their family.”

Verified children’s surgery centers must meet the essential criteria that demonstrates a continuous process for improving care for children with surgical needs, as outlined by the ACS in its current standards document, Optimal Resources for Children’s Surgical Care. These standards are the nation’s first and only multispecialty standards for children’s surgical care and include: appropriate access to care; staffing; training; high-quality, developmentally appropriate acute hospital care and ambulatory care; and relevant research and education activities.

The verification process also involves an extensive site visit by a team of ACS surveyors – experienced pediatric surgeons, pediatric anesthesiologists, and pediatric nurses – who review each center's structure, process and clinical outcomes data.

The ACS Children’s Surgery Verification Committee was established in 2015 with the goal of defining optimal resource standards and matching them to an individual child’s needs. By using existing data, expert opinion and evidence-based scientific methods, these standards are meant to improve clinical outcomes for children of all ages who require surgery.

To meet these guidelines, NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital implemented a multi-pronged approach which consisted of integrating teams across multiple disciplines, streamlining administrative and surgical processes, and expanding the number of operating rooms to meet the need for emergency surgeries. 

“This has truly been a hospital-wide effort and we are thrilled to receive this Level I verification by the ACS,” said Dr. Steven Stylianos, surgeon-in-chief at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital and the Rudolph N. Schullinger Professor of Surgery at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. “Families can feel confident that they are choosing the most advanced, safe, quality-driven and empathetic children’s hospital for their child’s care.”

NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital provides high-quality, compassionate care for fetal, newborn, child, and adolescent patients and is a major referral center for challenging operations such as heart surgery (including congenital heart disorders in newborns), neurosurgery, spine, organ transplantation, ENT (ear, nose and throat), urologic procedures and pediatric trauma care.

NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital

NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, located in New York City, offers the best available care in every area of pediatrics — including the most complex neonatal and critical care, and all areas of pediatric subspecialties — in a family-friendly and technologically advanced setting. Building a reputation for more than a century as one of the nation’s premier children’s hospitals, Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital is affiliated with the Department of Pediatrics at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, and is Manhattan’s only hospital dedicated solely to the care of children and one of the largest providers of children’s health services in the tri-state area with a long-standing commitment to its community. It is a Level I Trauma Center, as designated by the American College of Surgeons. It is also a major international referral center, meeting the special needs of children from infancy through adolescence worldwide.

NewYork-Presbyterian also comprises NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian Westchester Division, NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital, NewYork-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital and NewYork-Presbyterian Lawrence Hospital. The hospital is also closely affiliated with NewYork-Presbyterian Hudson Valley Hospital, NewYork-Presbyterian Queens and NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital. NewYork-Presbyterian is the #1 hospital in the New York metropolitan area, according to U.S. News & World Report, and consistently named to the magazine’s Honor Roll of best hospitals in the nation. For more information, visit www.nyp.org.