@gravity3 I'm only leaving this message because of my personal experience over the past three years (July of 2023 to today), and the very surprising treatment I've endured.

I live on the West Coast, and there is Cedars-Sinai, Keck of USC, UCLA, Providence, St. Johns, and Kerlan & Jobe. When people see/hear the names of these hospitals (I've heard several say this), they are under the same impression, "Oh, they're the elite doctors / hospitals!" Believe me, again from what I have been going through, and am still going through, every one of these hospitals has a problem you are surprised that they do.

I've been lied to, mis-diagnosed, treated like a child (I'm over 60), yelled at by a surgeon (my wife thought it was coming to blows), and the number one thing these "elite" hospitals do, is ignore you. I have a primary doctor I gave up on after more than a year of never hearing back (I went to other doctors in the mean time), the first spine surgeon I saw in 2023 ghosted me for over a month before I moved to another hospital, and I have a pain management doctor
that is the nicest guy, but his schedulers / assistants are the worst.

I started seeing this doctor in December of 2025, and to this day, no one from this office has ever called me for anything; when the insurance denied a procedure request, never received a call, I called after two weeks of hearing nothing; when the insurance approved another request, I was never called, I only found out after waiting again, and calling again; then I finally resort to messaging my primary to let him know what the delay is, he then emails the pain doctor, then I get a call to set up an appointment.

So, just because there is a famous name attached to the hospital / doctor, you cannot assume they are the "elite" in their field. The healthcare system is broken in the US, and it is only going get worse before it gets better.