Jayson A Hymes's Online Review Report Card

DO NOT USE THIS OFFICE.  If I could give them a zero rating I would! I recently was given a prescription for a lumbar epidural from a wonderful back doctor at Cedars Sinai.  This was following an MRI and an X-ray that clearly showed nerve impingement and was recommended as an alternative to surgery which I am probably facing down the line.  Unfortunately their office do not do the epidurals so I was referred to Dr Hymes by a friend.  I was told that before I could have the epidural my insurance (Blue Shield of California) needed me to have a consult.  When I arrived at Dr Hymes office I was told that my appointment would be with Dr Levens and since I did not know better and wanted to get authorization I continued with the appointment.  Dr Levens told me that I would have to come back again for a nerve test (which I later found out was totally unnecessary).  Each visit I had a co-pay of $80.  At the end of the second visit I asked Laura (who submits reports for authorizations) when she would be submitting the reports.  She told me as soon as she got it from Dr Levens.  2 weeks went by without hearing anything.  When I called to see what was happening Laura told me that she had not submitted anything because Dr Levens had not written anything in his report about an epidural even though she had the prescription for it in my chart.  Upon my request he wrote an addendum and the report was submitted.  Today I learnt that my insurance declined the request because I had allegedly told Dr Levens that my pain level was a 1!!!!!  This is totally false - it is about a 7/8 and so restrictive that at times I cannot walk at all!  I called Blue Shield and they told me that they did not say anything about pain levels but I was turned down because I have to see a chiropractor or physical therapist for 6 weeks first.  This makes sense but was never told this and why did Laura totally fabricate what they said about pain levels?  I told Laura that I wanted to speak to either Dr Levens or Dr Hymes to sort this out and she told me that if I wanted to do that I would have to make an appointment and pay another $80 co pay!  This is an office that is in the business of making money and clearly has no interest in the health of the patients that walk through their doors and absolutely no compassion in dealing with people in pain.  I am now $160 out of pocket and no better off dealing with my daily pain.

Dr. Hymes has tested me for a Spinal Stimulator and after having great results, he recently implanted the stimulator. I have back issues and my sciatica nerve is impeded by disc issues. This causes tremendous leg pain and after surgery by my orthopedist, the pain got worse.I feel like a new person, with the Stimulator.Dr. Hymes is an incredible Doctor, who not only has tremendous skill set, but he also possess great people skills. He is a very busy Doctor as he specializes in pain care, but he always takes the time to explain everything and understands the personality of his patents so you always feel comfortable asking questions etc.I want to mention that Lorra an office staff member is a real asset to Dr. Hyme's team. She coordinates getting patients paperwork and surgical dates set up. She should be commended for a job well done Dr Hymes has 2 offices, one in Van Nuys (He works with referred SOCIE patients) and an office in West Los Angeles. If you have pain issues I highly recommend seeing Dr. Hymes.

Dr. Hymes has tested me for a Spinal Stimulator and after having great results, he recently implanted the stimulator. I have back issues and my sciatica nerve is impeded by disc issues. This causes tremendous leg pain and after surgery by my orthopedist, the pain got worse.I feel like a new person, with the Stimulator.Dr. Hymes is an incredible Doctor, who not only has tremendous skill set, but he also possess great people skills. He is a very busy Doctor as he specializes in pain care, but he always takes the time to explain everything and understands the personality of his patents so you always feel comfortable asking questions etc.Dr Hymes has 2 offices, one in Van Nuys (He works with referred SOCIE patients) and an office in West Los Angeles. If you have pain issues I highly recommend seeing Dr. Hymes.

Every bad review is correct. I don't even want to waste energy talking about this guy but everyone should be warned. He's all about the dollar signs, like the rest of SCOI.

Dr Hymes was maybe the biggest disappointment I've had with a doctor.  I went for pain management. I have had two back surgeries, due for a third and badly needed help right away. I have a new job and very busy work schedule and it was a complete waste of time. I was told he was one of the best and that couldn't be farther from the truth. Arrogant and judgmental and everyone in the other rooms can hear everything being said I noticed, so NOTHING is confidential. He said he would "make some calls" and get back to me and no call back. I called the office three times for some kind of update and nothing. Nobody would tell me anything nobody ever called back. Shameful.I went to Dr. Starks and he was amazing. Very direct and took care of me right away with what I needed to hear and take and it has been fantastic.

My star rating is a One. If I didn't have to choose chose a star Rating it would be a ZERO. I want to help others that suffer from chronic pain by providing genuine insight. Dr Hymes made me feel like I did something wrong. It doesn't get any worse then this when I say run RUN. Dr is cold, arrogant also more suspicious of clients then understanding. No bed side manner. Hope this helps.

They don't get any worse then this guy! 0 is my rating. Get a Dr. That's concerned about you and not their DEA licence.

Office staff and quality of care is abysmal. Everyone in that office needs to be fired. If people come in for chronic pain, wouldn't you think they deserve an ounce of kindness and professionalism from the staff? You won't get that here. Disgusted by their attitudes. Stay away.

Dr Hymes performed Epidural injection on my Spine. Apart from the outcome, which in this case was neither effective nor harmful, (basically neutral), I am furious about the charges. He charged $17,200!! for his 10-15 minutes of time. Of course, the insurance company dismissed $16,200, but I found out that he can claim the $16,200 as losses on his income tax return. This is Tax Fraud..... They also informed me that my copay was due at the time of injection, which I paid. But then I got another, even larger co-pay bill later.

I will be notifying my SCOI referring Dr of my experience so she can find other referral doctors. My minor child was recently referred to Dr. Hymes by SCOI as "the" expert in California for nerve blocks. I scheduled an appointment with the doctor so he could evaluate my child before scheduling the procedure. I was warned that the office staff and environment in Van Nuys was a bit rough due to the typical clientele. It was a bit rough, but honestly the staff was not that bad. Not super friendly, but not that bad. We paid our copay in cash--that's their policy nicely taped to the wall. We waited 2 hours in the waiting room before we were seen for this first new patient visit. We met with Dr.Hymes. He did seem a bit arrogant as a couple of other reviewers mentioned above, but he took time with us and explained everything about the proposed procedure after he had completed his exam. One odd thing as I think back, everyone seemed confused about why I would schedule an appointment to meet the Dr first to examine my child prior to any procedure (instead of scheduling the procedure and meeting him at the surgery center first?). This should have been my first warning. That said, he seemed knowledgeable and confident that he could help so we opted to move forward. The office nearly instantly booked the procedure. This should have been my 2nd warning. The nerve block was done 2 weeks later and were told to follow up with the doctor in 30 days to determine if the block was successful or if we needed to pursue a nerve ablation. At the 30 day follow up scheduled with the Dr. we waited roughly an hour. We were then escorted to the exam room. We walked right past Dr Hymes as he was standing outside the exam room drinking coffee. We waited a few more minutes and in walks... some guy! Not Dr Hymes! This guy never introduced himself to us or I would be naming him in this review. He said my child's name, said HE would be handling our follow up, asked what "we wanted from them" and proceeded to pepper my child with rapid-fire questions one after the other without giving a moment to listen or look at the chart. I finally had to interrupt to ask him to slow down and told him that this is a minor who recently had a procedure from Dr Hymes but was still having significant pain while standing and unable to resume activities usually enjoyed. I explained that Dr Hymes had asked us to follow up in 30 days in the event the nerve block did not help and that he would evaluate and determine next course of action or poss. nerve ablation. This guy said "well, we could do all injections again".. "shall we schedule it?" I asked why we would want to redo something that didn't work and he actually said "well it might work the next time or it might not". He again asked, "Would you like to schedule?" I asked about alternatives and about the ablation that the doctor mentioned previously and about any risks (again, this patient is a scared MINOR). He said "no risks just some pain for 7 days after". Really?! No risks? No other info?! At this point I asked him if he was a doctor. He told me he was a PA. I asked to speak to Dr. Hymes. The guy asked me why, tossed the chart on the sink, got angry and told me I was wasting his time and he wasn't even sure the Dr could see us! But we had an appointment for a follow up WITH THE DR! So I asked if he could check to see if the doctor could see us and answer some questions about any future procedure we might schedule. This guy stepped out of the room, chatted with female staff for 5 minutes (we could hear him through the paper-thin walls) and then stepped back in and advised that the "doctor is not available" and could not see us. I had just walked past Dr Hymes a few minutes prior! I'm a parent of a child that had previously had one procedure and this guy couldn't get the doctor to talk to us about his second proposed invasive procedure on a MINOR? Then amazingly, this guy again asked me "do you want to schedule the procedure?" When I told him no, we would be considering other options, the guy stormed out of the exam room shouting that we had wasted HIS time and stomped into his cluttered office across the hall complaining about all the "paperwork [he] had to do now". Really? What paperwork? Standard paperwork for an office follow up? On our way out I told him, so the staff and Dr Hymes nearby heard, that he was extremely rude and that I was shocked at his utter lack of professionalism. This shady experience today was unbelievable and uncomfortable. I left feeling I took my child to a procedure mill, not a healthcare facility.