FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The American Association of Eye & Ear Hospitals Announces Dates for 2009 Annual Meeting

Arlington, VA (August 3, 2009) - The American Association of Eye & Ear Hospitals (AAEEH) has announced the dates October 25-27 for its 2009 Annual Meeting to be held at the Sheraton Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco, CA, USA. This will be the 26th annual meeting of the AAEEH held in concurrent to the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO).

Besides receiving a full update on the health reform activities before the US government and its implications for eye, and eye and ear institutions, the AAEEH will review the results of its first association-wide benchmarking survey. The benchmarking initiative is an exciting new initiative resulting from the strategic planning efforts the Association engaged in 2009.

In addition to the regular AAEEH attendees, special invitations have been sent out to the executives of the other centers of excellence in ophthalmology and otolaryngology, both domestic and international.

"Based on the outstanding success of the 2009 AAEEH Spring Meeting in completing the 2009-2014 Strategic Planning process, I want to encourage all our members and invited guests to attend the 2009 AAEEH Annual Meeting. We will be unveiling our new programming and member services for 2010, as well as participating in some outstanding educational experiences." Robert Betz, PhD, AAEEH Executive Director said.

The American Association of Eye and Ear Hospitals is comprised of the premier centers for specialized eye and ear procedures in the world. Association members are major referral centers, offer some of the most innovative teaching programs in the world, and routinely treat the most severely ill eye and ear patients. The mission of these specialty institutions requires them to maintain leading edge technologies, enabling them to provide highly specialized services not available in general acute care hospitals.