If you or a loved one suffers from dementia or other diseases associated with the aging process, you may someday need to visit a doctor affiliated with a hospital that specializes in geriatric care, the field of medicine that focuses on caring for elderly people.

Every year, U.S. News & World Report publishes a list of the top hospitals in the country in 16 different adult specialties, including geriatrics.

The Top 10 Hospitals For Geriatrics

1. Johns Hopkins Hospital (Baltimore, MD)

The Department of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology offers primary care services (including a continence program, Memory and Alzheimer's Treatment Center and metabolic bone center), an Elder House Call Program and a full range of inpatient care services. Special focuses include hip fractures, medical psychiatry and rehabilitation.

2. Mount Sinai Medical Center (New York, NY)

Mount Sinai's Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine offers many innovative services; including Mobile Acute Care for the Elderly, which helps to coordinate care for elderly patients in the hospital and when they return home, and the Visiting Doctors Program, which offers house calls for home-bound patients. The hospital is affiliated with a 1,300-bed teaching nursing home, Jewish Home and Hospital long-term care services.

3. Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center (Los Angeles, CA)

Physicians at the UCLA Division of Geriatrics specialize in all of the health conditions that plague elderly patients, providing both inpatient and outpatient care at multiple locations throughout the city. This facility also has a dedicated geriatric floor at the UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica, as well as nursing homes in West Los Angeles and Santa Monica.

4. Cleveland Clinic (Cleveland, OH)

Among the special services offered by Cleveland Clinic geriatricians for patients with dementia is the Aging Brain Clinic, which brings together a team of specialists to evaluate the mental functions of elderly patients.

5. Hospital for Special Surgery (New York, NY)

The Hospital for Special Surgery is dedicated to orthopedics, rheumatology and rehabilitation, in addition to being well known for its extremely low rates of infection.

6. Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston, MA)

The Mass General Geriatrics Unit offers a full-range of care for elderly patients, with a particular focus on wellness and enhancing everyday abilities.

7. Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN)

Geriatricians at the Mayo Clinic are housed in the Internal Medicine's Department of Primary Care. Dementia patients are cared for by a team of specialists, which includes geriatricians and neurologists.

8. Duke University Medical Center (Durham, NC)

Affiliated with Duke University Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development, the department of geriatrics is known for its advances in long-term care and preventive medicine for the elderly.

9. NYU Langone Medical Center (New York, NY)

NYU Langone offers geriatric services throughout the city, including the Bellevue Hospital Geriatric Clinic and a falls prevention service at the Hospital for Joint Diseases.

10. UPMC-University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (Pittsburgh, PA)

Special features of geriatric care at UPMC include its Aging Clinic.

While there are many hospitals in the U.S. that provide excellent geriatric care, it is helpful to know those that have been recognized as leaders in their field, especially when you live near one or are faced with a particularly complex set of medical problems.

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