State data present 89 hospice firms at one Los Angeles workplace plaza. We went to search for ourselves.

The Merabi Skilled Medical Plaza, a three-story, 32,000 sq. foot stucco and glass workplace constructing in Los Angeles, is house to a salon, a regulation workplace, a modeling company, a realty company and, additionally, 89 licensed hospice firms. 

Affected person advocate Sheila Clark, who has labored to show allegations of widespread Medicare fraud within the hospice trade, calls this constructing “floor zero” for the problem. 

“This specific constructing I observed, I am like, ‘dang, how can there be that many licensed and authorized hospices on this tiny little constructing?,'” Clark mentioned.

The constructing is among the many most excessive instances of what is generally known as “clustering” to show up in a sweeping CBS Information investigation — a grouping of huge numbers of hospice workplaces that state auditors take into account a serious crimson flag for potential fraud. 

The Van Nuys tackle for Merabi Plaza seems dozens of instances in state data for licensed hospice firms. Contained in the constructing’s entry corridor, a listing lists quite a few  hospice companies that line the lengthy tiled hallways, though the constructing’s proprietor claims many are not there. 

Clark mentioned it makes “no sense” to search out so many licensed and authorized hospice firm workplaces working inside a single constructing. Auditors mentioned the clustering of so many companies raised considerations as a result of it means that “the variety of companies in these areas probably exceeds the variety of sufferers who want companies.”

Issues about clustering seem in a 2022 California State Auditor’s report, which discovered that Los Angeles County had skilled a 1,500% enhance in hospice firms countywide since 2010. That is six instances extra hospice suppliers than the nationwide common, relative to the county’s aged inhabitants. 

Auditors mentioned different warning indicators for potential fraud included a number of hospices in a single constructing, geographic clustering, low affected person counts, excessive charges of terminally ailing sufferers later discharged alive, extreme billing and employees shared throughout a number of firms.  

CBS Information discovered that 72 of the 89 registered hospices in Merabi Plaza have not less than three of these six potential warning indicators.

CBS Information wasn’t the primary to go to the constructing with questions. Federal data present regulators visited a number of suites in Merabi Plaza between 2021 and 2025. They discovered practically 400 violations at 75 firms, these data present.

One inspection cited a nurse who reported {that a} affected person’s household was glad with care, regardless of indications that nobody from the hospice ever visited that affected person.  

One other inspection of a affected person’s chart listed medicines for malaria and diabetes. The affected person instructed inspectors he wasn’t taking both drug. At that very same firm, a hospice social employee wrote a couple of household’s grief when their liked one handed, however there was no proof the affected person was really useless.

Most of the hospice firms in Marabi Plaza have been billing Medicare for years and accumulating reimbursements that come from federal tax {dollars}.   

On a current go to to the constructing, CBS Information encountered the constructing’s proprietor, Kambiz Merabi. He mentioned officers from Medicare got here to his constructing two years in the past particularly searching for hospice companies, and he allowed them to conduct their inspections.

Merabi mentioned to him, the companies seem like official – noting that his tenants are required to offer customary documentation that reveals they’re legitimate.

“I am not a police or keeper of what they do, how they do enterprise,” Merabi mentioned.

Merabi mentioned the numbers that seem in authorities data differ from these on his tenant listing. He reveals solely 12 hospice firms working in his constructing. He defined that quite a lot of the companies had lately moved out of the constructing, although public data do not but mirror that, and hospices are required to inform authorities in the event that they transfer.

Advocates say the discrepancy raises questions on what they name “ghost hospices.” These are paper firms that invoice the federal government for sufferers, even when they do not really present any actual care. 

California Legal professional Normal Rob Bonta, whose workplace is answerable for investigating the trade within the state, mentioned hospice fraud charges stay “unacceptable.” 

“We’re dedicated to tackling the problem till we root it out and extinguish all fraud,” Bonta mentioned.

Medicare is federally administered, and Dr. Mehmet Oz, who heads the Facilities for Medicare and Medicaid Companies, mentioned the company has “dramatically accelerated our skill to take out the unhealthy guys by stopping their funds.” 

“I need to make it clear, we’re not going to pay you cash simply since you despatched me a bit of paper with a invoice on it. We will test to make it possible for’s official, and that doc is proof that you just really carried out one thing that is useful to the American individuals,” Oz mentioned. “Otherwise you’re not getting cash from us.”

Merabi mentioned he, for one, helps that effort.

“I am all for it as a result of on the finish of the day, you and I are paying for all these issues that aren’t proper,” Merabi mentioned.