2026年3月19日 / 美国东部时间上午9:27 / CBS新闻
位于洛杉矶的梅拉比专业医疗广场是一座三层、面积达32,000平方英尺的灰泥和玻璃结构办公楼，楼内除了有美容院、律师事务所、模特经纪公司和房地产公司外，还入驻了89家持牌临终关怀机构。
致力于揭露临终关怀行业广泛存在的医疗保险欺诈指控的患者权益倡导者希拉·克拉克(Sheila Clark)称这座建筑是该问题的”重灾区”。
“我注意到这栋特定的建筑时，心想’天哪，这么小的一栋楼里怎么会有这么多持牌和认证的临终关怀机构？’”克拉克说道。
在哥伦比亚广播公司新闻部开展的全面调查中，这座建筑是被称为”集群化”的最极端案例之一——即大量临终关怀机构聚集在一起，州审计员认为这是潜在欺诈的主要警示信号。
梅拉比广场位于凡奈斯(Van Nuys)的地址在州持牌临终关怀机构记录中出现了数十次。在该建筑的大堂内，一个名录列出了沿铺有瓷砖的长走廊排列的众多临终关怀机构，尽管该建筑的所有者声称其中许多机构已不再在此运营。
克拉克表示，在同一栋楼内发现如此多持牌和认证的临终关怀机构办公”毫无道理”。审计员称，如此多机构的集群化引发了担忧，因为这表明”这些区域的机构数量可能超过了需要服务的患者数量”。
2022年加州州审计员的报告中就提到了关于集群化的担忧，该报告发现自2010年以来，洛杉矶县的临终关怀机构数量增长了1500%。相对于该县老年人口，这一数字是全国平均水平的六倍。
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审计员称，其他潜在欺诈的警示信号还包括同一栋楼内多家临终关怀机构、地理集群化、患者数量少、绝症患者出院后仍被统计、过度计费以及多家公司共用员工。
哥伦比亚广播公司新闻部发现，梅拉比广场89家注册临终关怀机构中有72家至少存在上述六种潜在警示信号中的三种。
哥伦比亚广播公司新闻部并非首个就该问题前来探访的机构。联邦记录显示，监管机构在2021年至2025年间多次探访梅拉比广场的多个套房。记录显示，他们在75家公司中发现了近400项违规行为。
一次检查中，一名护士报告称，尽管有迹象表明临终关怀机构从未探访过该患者，但患者家属对护理表示满意。
另一次对患者病历的检查列出了疟疾和糖尿病的用药，但患者告诉检查人员他并未服用这两种药物。在同一家公司，一名临终关怀社工记录了患者家属在亲人去世时的悲痛，但没有证据表明该患者确实已经死亡。
梅拉比广场的许多临终关怀机构多年来一直向医疗保险系统收费，并从联邦税收中获得报销。
在最近一次探访该建筑时，哥伦比亚广播公司新闻部遇到了建筑所有者坎比斯·梅拉比(Kambiz Merabi)。他表示，两年前医疗保险官员专门来到他的建筑寻找临终关怀机构，他允许他们进行检查。
梅拉比称，这些企业看起来是合法的——他指出，他的租户必须提供证明其合法的标准文件。
“我不是警察，也不是他们经营方式的监管者，”梅拉比说道。
梅拉比表示，政府记录中的数字与他租户名单上的数字不符。他表示，目前只有12家临终关怀机构在他的建筑内运营。他解释说，一些机构最近已搬离该建筑，尽管公共记录尚未反映这一点，而临终关怀机构搬迁时必须通知相关部门。
倡导者称，这种差异引发了他们所谓的”幽灵临终关怀机构”的疑问。这些是仅开具政府账单而实际上并未提供任何实际护理的纸面公司。
加州总检察长罗伯·邦塔(Rob Bonta)表示，该州负责调查该行业，他认为临终关怀欺诈率仍然”不可接受”。
“我们致力于解决这个问题，直到彻底根除并消除所有欺诈行为，”邦塔说道。
医疗保险由联邦管理，医疗保健和医疗补助服务中心主任梅赫梅特·奥兹(Dr. Mehmet Oz)表示，该机构”大幅加快了通过停止付款来打击不法分子的能力”。
“我想明确一点，我们不会仅仅因为你寄来一张带有账单的纸就付钱给你。我们会检查以确保这是合法的，并且该文件能证明你确实为美国民众做了有益的事情，”奥兹说道，”否则你将无法从我们这里获得资金。”
梅拉比表示，他个人支持这一努力。
“我完全支持，因为归根结底，你我都在为那些不正当的事情买单，”梅拉比说道。
State records show 89 hospice companies at one Los Angeles office plaza. We went to look for ourselves.
March 19, 2026 / 9:27 AM EDT / CBS News
The Merabi Professional Medical Plaza, a three-story, 32,000 square foot stucco and glass office building in Los Angeles, is home to a salon, a law office, a modeling agency, a realty corporation and, also, 89 licensed hospice companies.
Patient advocate Sheila Clark, who has worked to expose allegations of widespread Medicare fraud in the hospice industry, calls this building “ground zero” for the issue.
“This particular building I noticed, I’m like, ‘dang, how can there be that many licensed and certified hospices in this tiny little building?,’” Clark said.
The building is among the most extreme cases of what’s known as “clustering” to turn up in a sweeping CBS News investigation — a grouping of large numbers of hospice offices that state auditors consider a major red flag for potential fraud.
The Van Nuys address for Merabi Plaza appears dozens of times in state records for licensed hospice companies. Inside the building’s entry hall, a directory lists numerous hospice agencies that line the long tiled hallways, although the building’s owner claims many are no longer there.
Clark said it makes “no sense” to find so many licensed and certified hospice company offices operating inside a single building. Auditors said the clustering of so many firms raised concerns because it suggests that “the number of agencies in these areas likely exceeds the number of patients who need services.”
Concerns about clustering appear in a 2022 California State Auditor’s report, which found that Los Angeles County had experienced a 1,500% increase in hospice companies countywide since 2010. That’s six times more hospice providers than the national average, relative to the county’s elderly population.
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Auditors said other warning signs for potential fraud included multiple hospices in one building, geographic clustering, low patient counts, high rates of terminally ill patients later discharged alive, excessive billing and staff shared across multiple companies.
CBS News found that 72 of the 89 registered hospices in Merabi Plaza have at least three of those six potential warning signs.
CBS News wasn’t the first to visit the building with questions. Federal records show regulators visited multiple suites in Merabi Plaza between 2021 and 2025. They found nearly 400 violations at 75 companies, those records show.
One inspection cited a nurse who reported that a patient’s family was satisfied with care, despite indications that no one from the hospice ever visited that patient.
Another inspection of a patient’s chart listed medications for malaria and diabetes. The patient told inspectors he wasn’t taking either drug. At that same company, a hospice social worker wrote about a family’s grief when their loved one passed, but there was no evidence the patient was actually dead.
Many of the hospice companies in Marabi Plaza have been billing Medicare for years and collecting reimbursements that come from federal tax dollars.
On a recent visit to the building, CBS News encountered the building’s owner, Kambiz Merabi. He said officials from Medicare came to his building two years ago specifically looking for hospice agencies, and he allowed them to conduct their inspections.
Merabi said to him, the businesses appear to be legitimate – noting that his tenants are required to provide standard documentation that shows they are valid.
“I’m not a police or keeper of what they do, how they do business,” Merabi said.
Merabi said the numbers that appear in government records differ from those on his tenant list. He shows only 12 hospice companies operating in his building. He explained that a number of the agencies had recently moved out of the building, though public records don’t yet reflect that, and hospices are required to notify authorities if they move.
Advocates say the discrepancy raises questions about what they call “ghost hospices.” Those are paper companies that bill the government for patients, even if they don’t actually provide any real care.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, whose office is responsible for investigating the industry in the state, said hospice fraud rates remain “unacceptable.”
“We’re committed to tackling the issue until we root it out and extinguish all fraud,” Bonta said.
Medicare is federally administered, and Dr. Mehmet Oz, who heads the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said the agency has “dramatically accelerated our ability to take out the bad guys by stopping their payments.”
“I want to make it clear, we’re not going to pay you money just because you sent me a piece of paper with a bill on it. We’re going to check to make sure that’s legitimate, and that document is evidence that you actually performed something that’s helpful to the American people,” Oz said. “Or you’re not getting money from us.”
Merabi said he, for one, supports that effort.
“I’m all for it because at the end of the day, you and I are paying for all those things that are not right,” Merabi said.
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