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NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of Children’s Hospital of New York has been renewed as a Level 1 Children’s Surgery Center by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) — the highest designation a hospital can receive for pediatric surgical care, from complex neonatal, congenital and pediatric conditions to all pediatric subspecialties.

NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of Children’s Hospital of New York is one of only two pediatric hospitals in New York State to earn this designation, and among 5 in the Northeast and 59 nationwide. The hospital received its original designation as a Level 1 Children’s Surgery Center in 2019.

The pediatric surgical team at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of Children’s Hospital of New York.

“We are proud to be reverified as a Level 1 Children’s Surgery Center by the American College of Surgeons,” says Dr. William Middlesworth, the medical director of children’s surgery and vice chairman of quality and patient safety at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of Children’s Hospital of New York and the R. Peter Altman, MD Professor of Pediatric Surgery at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. “This recognition reflects the extraordinary commitment of our teams to delivering the highest quality, most compassionate care to children and their families.”

Hospitals earning Level I verification must meet the standards outlined by the ACS. 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.

To meet these standards, NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of Children’s Hospital of New York implemented a multi-pronged approach: integrating teams across multiple disciplines, streamlining administrative and surgical processes, and making sure emergency surgical care is provided in a timely manner.

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.

NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of Children’s Hospital of New York provides expert care in every area of pediatrics in a family-friendly and technologically advanced setting. The hospital has been verified as the only Level 1 pediatric trauma center in New York City; Level 1 for metabolic bariatric surgery; and Platinum Level for Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) by the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO).