Florida Health Finder

In order to help families make an informed decision when considering where to seek healthcare for their child, Nicklaus Children's Hospital is making available a link to the consumer health website www.FloridaHealthFinder.gov


The State of Florida's FloridaHealthFinder website includes information regarding all ages of patients in all Florida hospitals and healthcare facilities. It is important to note that Nicklaus Children's Hospital is a specialty hospital licensed to serve children from premature newborns to 21 years of age.

The FloridaHealthFinder website displays information regarding:

  • Number of patients admitted to the hospital or seen for specific procedures
  • Average length of stay (days) in the hospital
  • Average hospital charges
  • Average readmission rates to the hospital
  • Mortality rates
  • Complication rates for various medical conditions and procedures
  • Quality care indicators such as these are monitored very closely at our hospital, and our staff strives to perform at levels that are often times the standard for other hospitals nationwide.

Hospital Services

While reviewing the data pertaining to Nicklaus Children's Hospital you may find the following information helpful in clarifying our unique services:

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)

Nicklaus Children's Hospital has a Level 3 NICU. Level 3 represents the highest level of services that any hospital can provide a newborn. Because we do not have a maternity department nor do we birth infants at Nicklaus Children's Hospital other hospitals throughout Florida, U.S. Territories, and Atlantic/Caribbean countries regularly send their seriously ill newborns to our NICU for specialized, comprehensive medical and surgical care. Learn more.

Burn Centers

The State of Florida has designated 4 trauma centers throughout the state as 'burn centers'. These burn centers offer comprehensive, specialized care for the most serious burns (3rd degree burns or 2nd degree burns affecting a significant percent of the patient's body surface area) as outlined by the American Burn Association. Any pediatric patient who comes to Nicklaus Children's Hospital with a burn receives initial treatment at the Nicklaus Children's Hospital Emergency Department. All pediatric burn patients with a mild to moderate burn (1st degree burn to a 2nd degree burn affecting a less expansive of the body surface area) will remain at Nicklaus Children's Hospital for treatment. All severe burn patients are transferred to the designated burn unit in the region.

Trauma Center

Nicklaus Children's Hospital is a state approved pediatric trauma center. Nicklaus Children's is proud to be one of only two freestanding pediatric trauma centers in the State of Florida; and the only freestanding pediatric trauma center in South Florida. Learn more.

Pediatric Open Heart

Nicklaus Children's Hospital, a Children's Medical Services (CMS) Pediatric Cardiovascular Center, performs more cardiac procedures with better outcomes than any other facility in the region. Learn more.

Adult Open Heart

Since Nicklaus Children's Hospital is a pediatric facility that provides care for children 21 years of age and younger, The Heart Institute treats only a limited number of cases where the patient is between the ages of 18-21 years.

Organ Transplantation

Nicklaus Children's Hospital is a certified Bone Marrow Transplantation center. The Nicklaus Children's Hospital Bone Marrow Transplantation Program has been accredited by The Foundation for Accreditation of Hematopoietic Cell Therapy (FAHCT).

Nicklaus Children's Hospital works with patients and families to select the optimal transplant center for the specific organ and medical condition of the patient. Learn more.

Statutory Teaching Hospital

Nicklaus Children's Hospital is not listed as a statutory teaching hospital on the FloridaCompareCare website.

A statutory teaching hospital is defined as "any Florida hospital officially affiliated with an accredited Florida medical school". Nicklaus Children's Hospital is affiliated with the State University of New York (SUNY), an accredited medical school which is located in New York, not Florida. Nicklaus Children's is a world leader in pediatric medical education and is the largest freestanding pediatric teaching hospital in the Southeastern United States. Learn more.

Psychiatric Acute Care

Nicklaus Children's Hospital provides psychiatric acute care services for the pediatric population only. Learn more.

Rehabilitation Care

Nicklaus Children's Hospital works with patients and families to select the optimal rehabilitation program based on the child's specific needs. Learn more.

Rural Hospital

Nicklaus Children's Hospital is located in Miami, FL, a metropolitan area in the southeastern part of the state.

Critical Care Access Hospital

Nicklaus Children's Hospital does not meet the criteria of a Critical Care Access Hospital based on the fact that the hospital is not located in a rural area.

By definition, a Critical Care Access Hospital is a hospital located in a rural area that must maintain key services for patients needing critical care, as designated by the Social Security Act and certified by the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Primary Stroke Center

Nicklaus Children's Hospital is not a Primary Stroke Center due to the fact that this category is applicable solely to adult acute care facilities.

Comprehensive Cancer Center

Nicklaus Children's Hospital is not a National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The Nicklaus Children's Hospital Cancer Center has received national recognition and full member status in the Children Oncology Group (COG), a national cooperative oncology research group, and was awarded a grant by the National Cancer Institute for pediatric cancer research. Nicklaus Children's Hospital provides care for more pediatric cancer patients than any other hospital in South Florida. Learn more.

Risk Adjusted Average Charge Data

The risk adjusted average charge data contains charge information from hospitals and healthcare facilities throughout the State of Florida. While Nicklaus Children's Hospital average charge data is higher than the statewide average, please note that the cost of living in Miami-Dade County is 17.9% higher than the average cost of living statewide*.

Please note that the data compares risk adjusted average charges for hospitals caring for adults, children, and newborns; thus, as a specialty hospital caring solely for acutely ill children and newborns, this overall state average is not optimal for purposes of comparison.

It may be more appropriate for parents/guardians to contact Nicklaus Children's Hospital directly in order to obtain a more accurate estimation of charges and/or receive counseling on the availability of known financial resources for their own child's potential healthcare needs.

Risk Adjusted Readmission Data

It is important to note that the risk adjusted pediatric data comparisons (i.e. readmission rate) provided on the FloridaCompareCare website are based on entire state populations (all age groups), not just the pediatric population (ages 0-17 years).

Nicklaus Children's Hospital clinical programs are highly acclaimed by peer children's hospitals across the country. We're here for the children and to help you make the right choice for your child's healthcare needs.

*Average cost of living calculated by Sperling's Best Place (www.bestplaces.net). Visit FloridaHealthFinder.gov, for more information.