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A single building in Van Nuys, California, is raising eyebrows amid questions about the dozens of hospice providers and health care agencies registered at the address. The Merabi Professional Medical Plaza has been dubbed “ground zero” for Medicare fraud in the hospice industry.
The building is three stories and 32,000 square feet, according to CBS News, which recently visited to investigate the hospice companies registered at the Friar Street address.
The outlet reported 89 hospice companies were registered in the building. Fox News Digital reviewed state records showing 50 hospice companies and 97 home health agencies registered to the address.
CBS News said it found more than 700 of the nearly 1,800 hospice centers in Los Angeles County exhibited three or more flags that the state has cited as indicators of fraud. In a graph, it claimed that 130 showed zero flags, 353 had one flag, 548 had two flags, 462 had 3 flags, 224 had four flags, 49 had five flags and seven exhibited six flags.
LOS ANGELES COUNTY FACES SCRUTINY AFTER ALLEGED WIDESPREAD HOSPICE FRAUD EXPOSED
State records reviewed by Fox News Digital show 147 hospice and home health care agencies registered to the Van Nuys address for the Merabi Professional Medical Plaza. However, a March 2022 report from the California State Auditor noted there were over 150 agencies registered to the building, which “exceeds the structure’s apparent physical capacity.”
The 2022 report sounded the alarm over a 1,500% increase in the number of hospice agencies in Los Angeles County since 2010. The auditor noted that Los Angeles had “six-and-a-half times the nationwide average number of hospice agencies relative to its aged population in 2019.”
The building was also the subject of a letter to California Gov. Gavin Newsom by California State Assemblywoman Alexandra Macedo, R-Tulare, who said it was “dilapidated” and “lacked basic necessities, such as a wheelchair ramp and accessible parking.”
Several other assembly members signed onto Macedo’s letter.
Federal records also show regulators visited the Van Nuys building multiple times between 2021 and 2025 and found nearly 400 violations at 75 companies, according to CBS News. Fox News Digital verified federal records showed numerous visits to the building in Van Nuys.
LOS ANGELES HOSPICE FRAUD REACHES BILLIONS AS MEDICARE PROVIDERS SCAM FEDERAL SYSTEM WITH FAKE COMPANIES
CBS News noted that several of the hospice companies registered to Merabi Professional Medical Plaza had been billing Medicare for years.
Kambiz Merabi, the owner of the plaza, told CBS News that Medicare officials visited his building two years ago to look at hospice agencies. He told the outlet that, in his view, the businesses appear to be legitimate.
While government records show dozens of providers at the building, Merabi told CBS News that his records show just 12 hospice companies operating at the Van Nuys address.
If the facilities moved without notifying the government, they could have their licenses revoked under California law.
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Merabi claims in several Instagram videos to specialize in virtual offices, meaning businesses can pay to use his building as their address. However, hospices are required by federal law to have a physical office.
The revelations about the Merabi Professional Medical Plaza come amid the Trump administration’s renewed focus on fraud. President Donald Trump on March 16 authorized a task force to eliminate fraud, which will be led by Vice President JD Vance.
Fox News Digital reached out to Merabi, Macedo, CDPH and CMS for comment.
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