Why is this website returning autocomplete data wrapped in a jQuery tag?

Why is this website returning autocomplete data wrapped in a jQuery tag?

I was looking at the autocomplete widget on www.healthgrades.com and
inspected the network response.
I think the data is JSON, but it appears to have been run through some
sort of encoding / filter and escaped, then returned in a jQuery tag
(presumably a cache buster?).
A small bit of the data looks like what you see below.
jQuery17207977216457948089_1379039838014([{"ItemIds":null,"LinkUrl":"/hospital-directory/texas-tx-central/scott-and-white-memorial-hospital-hgst712bc8b6450054","Text":"Scott
and White Memorial
Hospital","PlainText":null,"Type":"tophospital","TrackingName":null,"StateAbbreviation":null,"Data":null},{"ItemIds":null,"LinkUrl":"/hospital-directory/texas-tx-austin/st-davids-medical-center-hgst613bc8b6450431","Text":"St.
David\u0027s Medical
Center","PlainText":null,"Type":"tophospital","TrackingName":null,"StateAbbreviation":null,"Data":null},{"ItemIds":null,"LinkUrl":"/hospital-directory/texas-tx-southern/st-davids-georgetown-hospital-hgst182bc8b6450191","Text":"St.
David\u0027s Georgetown
Hospital","PlainText":null,"Type":"tophospital","TrackingName":null,"StateAbbreviation":null,"Data":null},{"ItemIds":null,"LinkUrl":"/hospital-directory/texas-tx-austin/heart-hospital-of-austin-hgstbb7ecdaa450824","Text":"Heart
Hospital of
Austin","PlainText":null,"Type":"tophospital","TrackingName":null,"StateAbbreviation":null,"Data":null},{"ItemIds":null,"LinkUrl":"/hospital-directory/texas-tx-austin/st-davids-north-austin-medical-center-hgst234bc8b6450809","Text":"St.
David\u0027s North Austin Medical
Center","PlainText":null,"Type":"tophospital","TrackingName":null,"StateAbbreviation":null,"Data":null}]);
What are the benefits of doing this, and if my assumptions are wrong, what
is going on here?