At the National Assembly, the honorary president of the Orpea group, Jean-Claude Marian, will be heard on February 23 by the social affairs committee. Yves Le Masne, the former managing director, should be heard there within a fortnight. The two ex-leaders are among the main protagonists of the “system” portrayed by Victor Castanet in his book The Gravediggers (Fayard, 400 pages, 22.90 euros) for ” to optimise “ the group’s financial and stock market margins to the detriment, according to the author, of the care needs of the 28,000 residents of their nursing homes.
The hearings, on February 2 and 15, of two current and a former member of the management of Orpea have already enabled the deputies to find out more about the massive use of fixed-term contracts described in the book. The managers of Orpea assumed the use of “false motives”. Clearly, explained Jean-Claude Brdenk, former managing director in charge of operations, the group – to cope with the shortage of personnel affecting the sector – circumvented labor legislation which prohibits hiring a person on a fixed-term contract if his position has not already been assigned to an employee on a permanent contract. Some directors of Ehpad have thus been led to indicate on the employment contracts of a fixed-term contract the name of a ghost employee on a permanent contract. An illegal practice, but the labor inspectorate was ” aware “protested Mr. Brdenk.
Another revelation from Mr. Castanet’s book confirmed by the hearings conducted by the deputies: the existence of “discounts” to the Orpea group paid by its suppliers. The group thus recovers part of the credits from health insurance or departmental councils intended to pay for the purchase of care and dependency products. It is “specific service contracts”, said Mr. Brdenk. They are signed with suppliers in exchange ” some advices “ of the group “to help them establish themselves abroad”. “Our suppliers buy, if they wish, services”, also explained, on February 2 before the commission, Philippe Charrier, chairman and CEO of Orpea. “Thanks to us, they can go international, and that’s a major asset,” he had explained. The group does not, however, provide any information on the use of these sums or their amounts.
Orpea’s “non-responses”
The hearing of the leaders of Korian, the leading private French group in the sector, on February 16, enabled them to explain their own system of “discounts” paid by their suppliers. Those “service contracts” are of the order of 5 million euros per year. This sum is paid by the suppliers in return for services rendered by Korian such as assistance in the deployment of products in the establishments or the financing of a “hotline” to disseminate information related to purchased products. “These 5 million euros a year are not public money, however, as they are income related to purchases with public money, it is legitimate to know what this sum is used for”, explained Nicolas Mérigot, General Manager France of Korian. In this device, insisted Sophie Boissard, general manager of the group, “Establishments benefit from prices negotiated with suppliers, on average 20% cheaper compared to public references”.
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