The publication this week of the explosive investigation book The Gravediggers, which denounces the practices of the private group Orpea within the retirement homes it manages, caused a shock wave in France, arousing multiple indignant reactions.
In an interview at Sunday newspaper from January 30, Frédéric Valletoux, the president of the French Hospital Federation (FHP) declares that he would like supervision ” serious “ activities of private groups in the nursing home sector.
In The Gravediggers, the independent journalist Victor Castanet, describes a system where hygiene care, medical treatment and even residents’ meals are “rationed” to improve Orpea’s profitability. And this, while stays are charged at full price.
“Going to get money on the stock market is not an offence. But addiction is not a business like any other., advances the boss of the FHP which brings together public health establishments (hospitals) and medico-social structures (retirement homes), i.e. almost all public sector establishments.
” I’m not in favor of it “to kill” the private sector, but we must seriously regulate its activities. And to ask ourselves regarding the legal status of companies financed by public money and which carry out missions of general interest ”, he develops.
Exemptions from social charges for the private sector
Frédéric Valletoux advocates the imposition of “rules common to both sectors”, public and private for profit. Private companies benefit from exemptions from social charges, “but not us”, he said. “What regarding the private sector? I do not know. Today, a public Ehpad has 1,000 euros more to pay per resident and per month than a private Ehpad. Conversely, we are more controlled”, he adds.
It is not “not favorable” the nationalization of private players in the sector, an operation that would cost “15 billion euros”, according to him. “But from the moment these groups receive public funding, they must be subject to classic rules of transparency and quality”.
The leaders of Orpea, whose stock market price fell following the publication of the book, dispute the facts related in Victor Castanet’s book, calling them accusations “false, outrageous and prejudicial”. Director General Jean-Christophe Romersi is summoned on Tuesday morning to the Minister Delegate for the Autonomy of the Elderly, Brigitte Bourguignon, to ” to respond “ to « accusations graves » regarding group practices.