Texas Children’s Hospital has opened the nation’s first detransition clinic, free to patients for five years, because a $10 million settlement with Texas officials requires it.
Story Highlights
- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on Tuesday, October 27, that the clinic has opened.
- The clinic was a central term of a settlement the hospital signed in May with Texas and the U.S. Department of Justice.
- The hospital must pay $10 million and fully fund the clinic’s care for its first five years.
- The hospital denies wrongdoing and says it settled to avoid costly lawsuits.
- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton accused Texas Children’s of billing Texas Medicaid for gender-transition treatments the program does not allow.
Why the Clinic Exists
The clinic is the result of a legal fight, not a hospital plan. Paxton, the state’s top lawyer, accused Texas Children’s of billing Texas Medicaid for gender-transition treatments that the program does not allow. Medicaid is the government health plan for low-income families. The state brought its claims under a Texas law against health care program fraud, and officials said the hospital used false diagnosis codes on some of those bills.
Texas Children’s, based in Houston, agreed in May to settle with Texas and the U.S. Department of Justice. The deal required the hospital to pay $10 million, stop certain gender-transition treatments and open a detransition clinic. Detransition means stopping or reversing a gender transition. The deal also required the hospital to set up the clinic by the end of October.
Paxton said the clinic opened “in accordance with my settlement with Texas Children’s Hospital.” He added that he will “continue to ensure that this clinic provides the care and support” that patients deserve.
What the Clinic Offers
The clinic serves people who went through gender-transition treatment and later want help undoing it or managing its effects. Patients up to age 21 can get a range of medical care. Patients older than 21 can get detransition-related women’s health care, such as gynecology.
The care team includes specialists in hormones, surgery, primary care, fertility counseling, psychiatry and psychology. Each patient gets a care plan made for his or her needs, and visits may take place at different Texas Children’s locations. Care starts with a virtual assessment that patients request through a form on the hospital’s website.
Under the settlement, the hospital must pay for all of the clinic’s services for the first five years, so patients pay nothing during that time. The hospital must also promote the clinic on its website so families can find it.
Consequences for Doctors
The deal reaches past the clinic. The settlement permanently took away the medical staff privileges of several doctors. Privileges are a hospital’s permission for a doctor to treat patients there. Reports put the number at five doctors who had provided gender-transition care.
The hospital must also change its bylaws, the rules that govern its medical staff. Under the new rules, any doctor who performs a gender-transition treatment automatically loses privileges at the hospital.
The Hospital’s Response and Its Critics
Texas Children’s denies breaking the law. When the deal was announced in May, the hospital said, “All reviews and investigations continue to support the facts – we have been compliant with all laws.” It said it settled “to protect our resources from endless and costly litigation.” The settlement was reached without a trial, so no court ruled on the state’s claims.
Some advocacy groups say the clinic is not needed. Brad Pritchett, the head of the group Equality Texas, which backs transgender rights, said regret after gender-transition care is rare. “We’re talking one percent, sometimes less, depending on the study,” he said.
Paxton sees it differently. He has described the patients the clinic serves as victims of what he calls the “radical left’s gender ideology,” and his office says it is the first clinic of its kind in the country. For those patients, the care comes at no cost, paid for by the hospital the state accused of improper billing.
Sources:
insiderpaper.com, texasattorneygeneral.gov, yahoo.com, tpr.org, khou.com, nbcnews.com
