FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

AARP Names Three AAEEH Members As Top-Ranked" Hospitals

Arlington, VA (March 31, 2009) - Three member facilities of the American Association of Eye and Ear Hospitals (AAEEH) will be designated as "Top-Ranked" hospitals in the fields of ophthalmology by the American Association of Retired Person's (AARP) in the upcoming May/June issue of AARP The Magazine.

An article appeared in the March 25, 2009 edition of Healthcare Finance News reporting the recent naming of AARP's "top-ranked" U.S. hospitals. Three AAEEH members made the top ranking for ophthalmology. AAEEH members named were Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami, the Wills Eye Hospital of Philadelphia, and the Wilmer Eye Institute of Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore.

The upcoming AARP The Magazine, will feature information for consumers deciding whether to travel away from home for medical care. Consumers' Checkbook, which did the study for AARP surveyed physicians from across the United States and collected 140,000 ratings of hospitals. Doctors participating in the survey were asked whether, and where, they would recommend patients seeking care in other communities for extremely difficult cases and/or conditions.

When asked where they were most likely to send patients with extremely difficult opthalmology cases, physicians surveyed by Consumers' Checkbook named the three AAEEH members as well as another facility in California.

"Like the U.S News and World Report rankings that consistently rate many of the AAEEH institutions as the finest health care in the country, the ranking by the AARP confirm the high regard our health care facilities enjoy as they continue to provide the best and most cost-effective care for their patients." said AAEEH Executive Director, Robert Betz, Ph.D.

The AAEEH is comprised of the premier institutions for specialized eye and ear procedures. These centers of excellence offer some of the most innovative teaching programs in the world, routinely treat the most severely ill eye and ear patients, and provide highly specialized services not available in general acute care hospitals.