The federal government is urging healthcare providers to familiarize themselves with a new report calling into question the effectiveness of so-called gender transition procedures on minors and has launched a review of the use of public funding to cover the life-altering interventions.
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote a letter to healthcare providers and state medical boards nationwide Wednesday urging them to read a report the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published earlier this month on the treatment of pediatric gender dysphoria.
The review of evidence and best practices advised against using the World Professional Association of Transgender Health guidelines for treating children with gender dysphoria.
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Performing hormonal or surgical gender transition procedures on minors, which the WPATH guidelines encourage, comes with more risks than benefits, the review suggests.
Kennedy’s letter was published the same day that the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services sent a notice to several hospitals that perform such procedures, informing them of the federal government’s efforts to conduct an “Urgent Review of Quality Standards and Gender Transition Procedures.”
CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz requested that hospitals provide the agency with information about gender transition procedures previously performed there within the next 30 days.
Specific information sought by Oz included “informed consent protocols for children with gender dysphoria, including how children are deemed capable of making these potentially life-changing decisions and when parental consent is required.” Oz also wants to know what “changes to clinical practice guidelines and protocols that your institution plans to enact in light of the recent comprehensive review of medical evidence and corresponding guidance released by the Department.”
Hospitals are asked to list “any adverse events related to these procedures, particularly children who later look to detransition.” Insisting that “CMS has an obligation to be a good steward of taxpayer dollars,” Oz said the intention is to conduct “a comprehensive review of federal payment policies related to gender transition procedures for patients under 19 years of age.”
Gender surgeries can come with costs ranging from just over $50,000 to over $130,000. Oz asked the institutions to “provide complete financial data for all pediatric sex trait modifications performed at your institution and paid, in whole or in part, by the federal government.”
The financial data requested by Oz included revenue and profits generated by the facilities and providers from these procedures since 2020.
The letters to healthcare providers and hospitals are part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to crack down on the life-altering interventions for minors.
In an executive order he signed just a week after taking office earlier this year, President Donald Trump declared, “It is the policy of the United States that it will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit these destructive and life-altering procedures.”
The Trump administration’s executive order and subsequent actions designed to crack down on the performance of gender transition procedures on youth come after more than two dozen states passed laws banning minors from obtaining some or all types of these procedures in light of concerns about their long-term impact.
The American College of Pediatricians has warned that puberty-blocking drugs, which are often prescribed to youth with gender dysphoria, can cause “osteoporosis, mood disorders, seizures, cognitive impairment and, when combined with cross-sex hormones, sterility.” Possible side effects of cross-sex hormones, also frequently prescribed to trans-identified children, include “an increased risk of heart attacks, stroke, diabetes, blood clots and cancers across their lifespan.”
Gender transition surgeries involve the removal of healthy body parts that align with an individual’s biological sex or the creation of artificial body parts that correspond to a person’s stated gender identity.
The American Academy of Pediatrics clarified in 2022 that it doesn’t recommend gender reassignment surgeries to most youth but said so-called “gender-affirming care” can be life-saving.”
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
