Stunned by the fraudulent practices of the Orpea group revealed by the book The Gravediggers, by Victor Castanet (Fayard, January 2022), the Senate called two years ago on the government to strike hard to clean up the practices of commercial nursing homes. The senators showed more moderate zeal in their demand for moralization of the sector during the examination of the proposed law (PPL) relating to aging well, adopted Tuesday February 6.
The text voted on by a large majority was stripped of articles which set financial constraints and required more transparency from establishments, introduced by the National Assembly at first reading in November. “Unfavorable” to this broad rewriting of the PPL, Catherine Vautrin, the new Minister of Labor, Health and Solidarity, did not oppose the deletion of two provisions. However, they had been brought by his predecessors in government.
The Senate thus removed the obligation for lucrative nursing homes to reserve up to 10% of their profits to improve the quality of care for their residents. “A display measure, dangerous for the financing of nursing homes”, judged Jean Sol, senator (Les Républicains) of the Pyrénées-Orientales, co-rapporteur of the PPL.
Risk of chilling investors
In November, Aurore Bergé, then Minister of Solidarity, pleaded for this measure in the Assembly. Its initiator was Jean-Christophe Combe, his predecessor in the ministry. “Even if this measure is considered symbolic, entrust to World Mr. Combe, it aimed to demonstrate the desire of the private sector to have practices respectful of residents, a lifeline to restore their image with the public. » But since then, several large commercial operators have argued to the government and the Senate that this financial obligation risks chilling investors.
“There is no question of stigmatizing the actors [du secteur privé], explained in session Mme Vautrin. We will need all of them to face the challenge of aging. » The minister, who relied on “ wisdom “ of the Senate, should not fight as a priority for the reinstatement of this measure during the joint joint committee that it will convene in order to find a compromise between the two assemblies, a condition for final adoption of the PPL.
Mme Vautrin also supported the position of the Senate which removed the obligation for all nursing homes, regardless of their status, to communicate their ratio of employees to the number of their residents. The National Assembly had made it imperative to transmit this data to the National Solidarity Fund for Autonomy (CNSA), so that it could publish it on its website. A measure imagined by Brigitte Bourguignon, Minister Delegate for Autonomy in March 2022, to provoke a “shock of transparency” after the Orpea affair.
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