Re: Argument passing - column values.

[Rick James]

set @best_query = concat("select Hospital_Name into ", p_name,
-->
set @best_query = concat("select Hospital_Name into p_name ",
-->
set @best_query = concat("select Hospital_Name into @local_name ",

It seems like the entire SP could be just this (no PREPARE, no @, etc)

SELECT  IFNULL( 
              ( SELECT  Hospital_Name
                    from  hospital_outcomes
                    where  p_illness > 0
                      and  State = p_state
                    order by  p_illness Hospital_Name
                    Limit  1 ), 'NA'
              );

which would not even need a SP.