AARP The Magazine Unveils Top-Ranked Hospitals Across The Country

Plus: Doctors' Hospital Picks by Specialty and Tips to Determine If and How to
Travel Away from Home for Medical Care
WASHINGTON, March 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AARP The Magazine, the
definitive voice for 50+ Americans and the world's largest-circulation
magazine with more than 34 million readers, today debuted a new interactive
map listing the top-ranked hospitals in the U.S. by geographic area. This list
(available at www.aarp.org/health) was compiled by Consumers' Checkbook, a
nonprofit organization, and coincides with the release of the May/June issue
of AARP The Magazine, which features new information and advice for consumers
deciding whether or not to travel away from home for medical care. The
magazine article also features the results of a national survey in which
doctors were asked to give their top picks for out-of-town hospitals based on
specialty. With several of the largest U.S. hospitals reporting significant
increases in the number of out-of-state patients in the past decade, it's
clear that more patients are venturing further from home for care.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070209/NYF043LOGO)

Consumers' Checkbook surveyed doctors from across the country and collected
140,000 ratings of hospitals in their own communities and also asked the
doctors whether, and where, they would recommend patients seek care in other
communities for extremely difficult cases of heart conditions, cancer, and
other ailments. The resulting list will help guide patients to appropriate
hospitals if they decide they need to travel outside their hometown for care.
When asked where they were most likely to send patients with extremely
difficult cases, doctors surveyed by Consumers' Checkbook named the following
hospitals:

Heart, General
-- Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH
-- Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
-- Children's Hospital Boston, Boston, MA
-- New York-Presbyterian/Columbia, New York, NY
-- Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
-- Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA
-- The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD
-- Stanford University Medical Center, Palo Alto, CA
-- Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, Houston, TX

Cancer, General
-- The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
-- Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY
-- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
-- Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
-- City of Hope, Duarte, CA
-- The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD
-- Duke University Hospital, Durham, NC
-- Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY

Mystery Diagnoses
-- Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
-- Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH
-- The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD
-- Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
-- Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA

Neurosurgery
-- Duke University Hospital, Durham, NC
-- Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
-- University of California San Francisco Medical Center, San Francisco,
CA
-- Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH
-- Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
-- The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD
-- Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA

Eyes
-- Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami, Miami, FL
-- Wills Eye Institute, Philadelphia, PA
-- Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA
-- Wilmer Eye Institute, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD

This survey was part of the research for a new book from Consumers' Checkbook
(www.checkbook.org) called Consumers' Guide to Hospitals, which uses volumes
of government safety statistics and data on death and complication rates,
along with survey results, to compare and rank hospitals in the country's 53
largest metro areas. To see the interactive map of Consumers' Checkbook's top
125 hospitals, visit www.aarpmagazine.org/health.

About AARP The Magazine
With more than 34 million readers nationwide, AARP The Magazine
(www.aarpmagazine.org) is the world's largest circulation magazine and the
definitive lifestyle publication for Americans 50+. Reaching over 24 million
households, AARP The Magazine delivers comprehensive content through in-depth
celebrity interviews, health and fitness features, consumer interest
information and tips, book and movie reviews and financial guidance. Published
bimonthly in print and continually online, AARP The Magazine was founded in
1958 and is the flagship title of AARP Publications.About AARPAARP is a
nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization that helps people 50+ have
independence, choice and control in ways that are beneficial and affordable to
them and society as a whole. AARP does not endorse candidates for public
office or make contributions to either political campaigns or candidates. We
produce AARP The Magazine, the definitive voice for 50+ Americans and the
world's largest-circulation magazine with over 34 million readers; AARP
Bulletin and AARP Bulletin Today, the go-to daily news source for AARP's 40
million members and Americans 50+; AARP Segunda Juventud, the only bilingual
U.S. publication dedicated exclusively to the 50+ Hispanic community; and our
Web site, AARP.org. AARP Foundation is an affiliated charity that provides
security, protection, and empowerment to older persons in need with support
from thousands of volunteers, donors, and sponsors. We have staffed offices in
all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin
Islands.

SOURCE AARP

Meghan Holston, +1-212-382-4450, meghan.holston@coburnww.com, or Michelle
Alvarez, +1-202-434-2555, malvarez@aarp.org, both of AARP