“To say that we were profiteers from Covid is despicable”: the Inovie laboratory shocked by the “methods” of Cash Investigation on France 2

Benoît Ponseillé, general director of the Inovie group and medical biologist. -DR

The Cash investigation magazine, broadcast Thursday February 22 at 9:10 p.m. on France 2, had the effect of a bomb on the managers, unions and employees of the Inovie group, for very different reasons. Interview with Benoît Ponseillé, general manager of the Inovie group and medical biologist.

 

How did you experience the broadcast of Cash Investigations ?

The title "Crisis Profiteer" has deeply shocked us. The entire profession was shaken. We are technicians, secretaries, biologists… To argue that we were profiteers from a dramatic crisis, which brought the country to its knees, is despicable. We worked tirelessly, seven days a week, under pressure from the authorities and supervisory authorities. It’s gossipy and it’s not journalistic work. We were approached before the summer, and then nothing. In December, they showed up in the parking lot, even though their questions had been answered in advance on two pages. We could have built a dialogue based on trust.

In the midst of a pandemic, Inovie opened its capital to investment funds. For what purpose ?

Medical biology has suffered a long period of austerity and reduction in funding for 10 years. In 10 years, the State has saved 6 billion euros on the funding envelope for biology. This situation forced laboratories to come together and call on financial partners, in accordance with the law, to continue their healthcare mission.

Since then, employees have denounced a race for profitability and a disguised social plan which would have allowed the company to let go of 1,000 employees. What do you say ?

Almost all of these are the end of fixed-term contracts, retirements or voluntary and supported departures. 50% of activity was lost in 2023 with the end of PCR tests. And so much the better. How to maintain these numbers ? We were then in shortage and the state had opened exemptions in human resources, to carry out a certain number of tests, by students, for example, to respond to the various questions -shots. We responded to the State's order: 700,000 tests per week from July 2020, which mechanically led to a peak in activity. This peak required the significant but temporary recruitment of fixed-term contracts including employees not authorized to work outside of Covid screening. Since August 1, 2022, the law putting an end to the state of emergency has at the same time put an end to this exceptional exemption and to these contracts.

In what volumes have you responded to the COVID crisis ?

The profession has carried out a total of 168 million tests in France. Our "routine" increased by 50% in a very short space, and there were 7 waves of testing, each lasting more than a month, spaced apart in an unpredictable manner.

You explained to employees that you "place people at the heart of your priority", but they say they experience suffering at work. What do you say to them ?

Operations must be readjusted. Organizations are disrupted, it’s a bad experience, we are aware and sensitive about it. The report shed light on a grain of truth. We went towards the unions, and not the other way around. A mailbox has been dedicated to reporting employee problems, which will allow us to take the pulse of this social tension. We are going to take it head-on. Social dialogue remains permanent.

And inexplicable mobilities ?

The mobility clause is used to ensure the efficiency of our territorial network. It’s historic for us, it exists in all contracts. All the people who have returned for five years have it. We adapt the workforce. At the time of Covid, the ARS called us the day before for the next day. And we had to respond everywhere.

The Minister of Health in 2023 François Braun wanted to impose on laboratories a reduction in reimbursements in order to save 1 billion by 2026, given the margins made on PCR tests ? What do you think ?

After Covid, the laboratories agreed to a long-term levy by the State of 250 million euros in 2023 followed by a new long-term reduction in 2024 of the ;rsquo;order of 180 M€. Thus, contrary to what was stated in the show, the entire profession will have participated in a new economy of 1 billion by 2025, on an envelope of 3.8 billion.

Each test would have been reimbursed 73€, or 50 to 70% more expensive than in neighboring countries. Is it right ?

Contrary to what the show stated, the price of tests has seen successive price reductions making French tests among the cheapest in Europe: from 2021, a PCR test cost 49 € in France against 69 € in Germany or between 75 and 150 € in Spain.

Cash for investors!

"The crises follow one another. Most French people suffer from it, but others benefit from it."

With these words, Élise Lucet sets the tone for the magazine Cash investigation, broadcast Thursday February 22 at 9:10 p.m. on France 2, which has the effect of a bomb on the unions and the employees of the Inovie group, whose headquarters are in Montpellier. What we seek to demonstrate in this magazine produced by Claire Tesson entitled Crisis profiteers,it’s the enrichment of certain companies, on the back of Covid or the war in Ukraine.

In the viewfinder, energy suppliers and large medical analysis groups, including Inovie, chaired by Georges Ruiz, founder of Labosud in 2010. "At the start of Covid, each test was reimbursed 73 €, or 50 to 70% more expensive than in neighboring countries. Investment funds have sniffed out a good deal and are increasingly present in the capital of large medical analysis groups, describes Élise Lucet.

"The giant welcomes 70,000 patients across 600 sites and achieves more than a billion turnover in the midst of Covid.&quot ; Un "super deal" would then be offered to Inovie biologists whose shares "are valued at 320%, knowing that we all have 1 M€ of shares, we ended up with more than 3 M€ each. It’s like winning the lottery", says one of them, on a hidden camera.

"Of the approximately 400 associated biologists, some are reinvesting. With the arrival of shareholders, and the end of PCR tests, management is moving towards profitability", continues the journalist. In 2020, EBITDA (profit before interest and taxes) is 27%. A rate which should reach 31% in 2025 according to the business plan. Whatever it costs ? "We are a liberal group", justifies Georges Ruiz, intercepted in his parking lot. To the interview offered to him, he replied "no", but sent a letter to production in which he maintained that "on the workforce, there is no issue with profitability".

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