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University of California medical centers top the list of best hospitals in their metropolitan areas, according to rankings released today (March 29) by U.S. News & World Report.

In U.S. News' first-ever "Best Hospitals" metro area rankings, UC medical centers ranked No. 1 in their regions — Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, UC San Diego Medical Center in San Diego and UC San Francisco Medical Center in San Francisco. UC Irvine Medical Center ranked as the top caregiver in Orange County and fourth-best out of 44 facilities in the Los Angeles region. Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center ranked No. 5 in Los Angeles.

U.S. News ranked hospitals within all 52 U.S. metropolitan areas with populations of at least 1 million, using existing data from the 2010-11 "Best Hospitals" rankings. The new rankings recognize 622 metro-area hospitals with a record of high performance in key medical specialties, including 132 of the 152 hospitals already identified by U.S. News as among the best in the nation. There are nearly 5,000 hospitals nationwide.

The metro area rankings are available online at www.usnews.com/hospitals.