The Ehpad giant is ready to return 25.7 million euros out of the 55.8 million claimed following the scandal.
A month after being put on notice by the State to reimburse 55.8 million euros, Orpea made a first gesture. The number one European private Ehpad, which is accused of having embezzled public funds, says it is ready to return 25.7 million euros. This sum corresponds to the end-of-year discounts collected from its suppliers for purchases financed by Social Security, the amount of two taxes and insurance costs that the group had included in its calculations to request public subsidies. ” Orpea will reimburse to the nearest euro public grants that have not been regularly requested, paid or used, says Laurent Guillot, CEO of the company since the end of July.This is an essential step for the overhaul of Orpea that we are going to accelerate and deepen, in a spirit of constructive and responsible cooperation with the authorities. »
The group of private nursing homes was given formal notice on July 29 by the National Solidarity Fund for Autonomy (CNSA), the organization which manages the funds dedicated to dependency. And this, following the report of the Igas-IGF mission made public last spring, which reported funding unduly received by the company. Orpea had assured on August 2 that it would reimburse “sums whose allocation was inadequate “, referring to”differences of appreciation on certain amounts.
Orpea refuses to return 30.1 million euros to the State. This sum corresponds to personnel expenses related to carers who “performed” as caregivers. The CNSA considers that these personnel should not have been covered by the care allocation, since they do not have the required qualifications.
Prosecutor’s investigation
For Orpea, this is a “widespread practice in private and public nursing homes, essential to ensure the quality of care in a general context of shortage of caregivers “. The group adds that regional health agencies, “with very few exceptions “, have found nothing to complain about by consulting the accounts of the establishments. It is therefore impossible tocreate a precedentvis-à-vis other players in the sector, we explain in the entourage of the group. Orpea asks the CNSA to open a discussion on this subject of the shortage of caregivers. For its part, the CNSA is suspended from the decision of the Nanterre prosecution, which opened an investigation in April into the financial practices of Orpea. Moreover, it does not have the legal means to apply financial penalties if the company does not comply.
Laurent Guillot walks on eggshells. There is no question that this dispute will taint the dialogue he intends to establish with the public authorities, and in particular with the new Minister of Solidarity, Jean-Christophe Combe, whom he has not yet met. The CEO of Orpea is focused on the strategic plan that he will present this fall. It will mark the beginning of the group’s reconstruction. Surrounded by a renewed board of directors and a new president, Guillaume Pepy, he hopes to write a new chapter in the history of Orpea.