In an investigative book published on Wednesday, journalist Victor Castanet implicates Orpea, a giant in the care of the elderly, which had to suspend its listing on the Stock Exchange.
Storm in the “silver economy“. The publication this Wednesday of the book investigates “The Gravediggersby journalist Victor Castanet plunged the action of the retirement home group Orpea, targeted by the book. On Tuesday, the share price thus deviated by 15% on the Paris Stock Exchange. The day before, the quotation had been suspended.
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Orpea leads in its fall other groups of retirement homes listed on the stock market, such as Korian, which saw its stock fall by 14% on Monday, as well as LNA Santé (-5.2%). Because the book once again puts the finger on the shortcomings of certain establishments in the treatment of the elderly. Victor Castanet describes a third age restrained by the rationing of food and sanitary products, and poorly supervised due to the lack of personnel.
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Less supervision
According to the National Solidarity Fund for Autonomy (CNSA), the 7,502 French nursing homes welcomed, in 2020, 601,300 residents. 51% are accommodated in public establishments, 29% in private non-profit establishments and 20% in private commercial establishments. The latter therefore only represent part of the reception in France, but they have contributed to developing the offer towards a “premiumization», with more activities in particular.
This development, on the other hand, pulls prices upwards: while the average price of a single room in nursing homes is 2004 euros per month in France, the median prices in private commercial establishments generally exceed this price because it is freely set. Their median is therefore more around 2,500 euros, or even 3,000 euros in French cities and their suburbs. A figure to be put into perspective with the average amount of the retirement pension in France, which was 1393 euros net in 2019 according to DREES. In some establishments intended for a financially comfortable clientele, prices can even reach 6,000 to 7,000 euros.
Aging of the population
Despite these higher prices, private commercial nursing homes generally have a lower employee-resident ratio than that of public establishments. In the public sector, the median supervision rate is thus 72.1 full-time equivalents (FTE) for 100 places in 2018, compared to 52.3 FTE in the private commercial sector, which is less subsidized. This does not prevent it, thanks to its reduced expenses, from generating enviable financial results: in 2019, i.e. before the health crisis, Korian’s turnover was 3.612 billion euros. That of Orpea was 3.74 billion euros.
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Despite their setbacks and the growing concern of the public with regard to the reception conditions for the elderly, private nursing homes have conquered, through investments, a leading role in this sector. Thus, according to Ilona Delouette, researcher at the University of Lille and author of a thesis on the care of dependency interviewed by Le Monde, private groups now create “40% of new reception places“. And this, while the French population continues to age, and that the people welcomed in retirement homes are more and more dependent. Thus, in 2040, INSEE anticipates that 1.2 million people will be dependent in France, against 800,000 currently.