Cosem medical centers transferred to management

New challenges for Cosem health centers. Due to a judicial investigation into their financial management, the non-profit health association’s centers (1,350 employees) have been placed under management with a six-month follow-up period, management said in a statement Wednesday.

The centers “remain open, appointments are made, care is provided and wages are paid throughout this period,” the management said, pointing out that the “sustainability” of the centers “is beyond doubt” but the procedure “will allow the association to regain its stability and reassure social climate.

Two reports before the court

The investigation into Cosem’s financial management was assigned to the Economic Crimes Enforcement Detachment (BRDE) after two court filings. The first came from the Primary Health Insurance Fund of Paris, which itself had been warned of “suspicion of fraud.” The second came from elected officials of the Cosem Socio-Economic Committee (CSE), who denounced facts that could be classified as breach of trust, illegal interest taking, welfare fraud and moral harassment.

The non-profit health association “Coordination of Social and Medical Works” (Kosem) is funded by public funds – reimbursement from social security and subsidies. It is run by a father, managing director since 2010, and his two sons.

Serious accusations

Elected CSE officials denounce exorbitant salaries paid to a father and his sons, fictitious jobs for their wives, and disproportionate spending reports of more than €285,000 for three people in 2021. Cosem, established in 1945, requires two million medical and dental consultations a year. the year is provided by 700 practitioners in about fifteen centers in the Île-de-France, as well as in Rouen, Amiens, Caen, Lyon, Marseille, Orléans and Saint-Étienne, according to its website.