15 hospices incorporated in a single day, in a single suite in Van Nuyshttps://www.dailynews.com/2026/03/22/15-hospices-incorporated-in-a-single-day-in-a-single-suite-in-van-nuys/A group operating out of a Friar Street office building in Van Nuys that advertises “virtual offices” incorporated 22 hospices and home care agencies in one year, including 15 hospices registered in one day to a single suite, according to an investigation by the Southern California News Group.
The 15 hospices, all formed in “Suite 205” at 14545 Friar St., later collected $12.3 million from Medicare and Medi-Cal billings in 2023 and 2024, records showed.
Each had the equivalent of one full-time employee at the time.
While operating out of the same building is permitted, hospices cannot use the same office, according to Sheila Clark, the president and CEO of California Hospice and Palliative Care Association.
“You cannot co-locate with another provider,” she said.
However, these hospices seemingly bypassed that limitation by appending letters from “A” to “P” onto the suite number in official documentation. Suites in the building, however, have only one to three rooms and leases specifically prohibit subdivision of those spaces, according to the property owner, Kambiz Merabi.
I try to be careful about making allowance in interpreting events for stupidity, but 15 "hospices" at the same address created on the same day and nobody noticed? That, IMO, is bureaucratic collusion, plus or minus some bribery, not stupidity. And one employee apiece? The hospice for which members of my family work has three people just for medical records administration. Having just one employee also should have been an orange WTH flag at the least.
