Two hospital systems in Wisconsin pause gender-affirming care treatment for minors

MILWAUKEE — Two of Wisconsin’s largest hospital systems serving children will stop providing gender-affirming care treatment to minors.

The decisions by Children’s Wisconsin and UW Health come after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed new rulemaking in December to “bar hospitals from performing sex-rejecting procedures on children under age 18 as a condition of participation in Medicare and Medicaid programs”.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reported that the same prohibition “would apply to federal Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) funding for these procedures on individuals under age 19″.

HHS defined “sex-rejecting procedures” on children to include “puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical operations [that could] expose them to irreversible damage, including infertility, impaired sexual function, diminished bone density, altered brain development, and other irreversible physiological effects”.

In a statement from Children’s Wisconsin:

At Children’s Wisconsin, we strongly believe everyone, including LGBTQ+ kids, should be treated with the support, respect, dignity and compassion they deserve. We are communicating to patients that due to escalating legal and federal regulatory risk facing systems and providers across the nation, we are currently unable to provide gender affirming pharmacologic care. Mental and behavioral health services will continue for patients and families who wish to receive this care from us.

In a statement from UW Health:

UW Health is committed to providing high-quality, compassionate and patient-centered care to our patients and families, including LGBTQ+ patients. Due to recent federal actions, UW Health is pausing prescribing puberty blockers and hormone therapy as part of gender affirming carefor patients under 18 years of age. We recognize the uncertainty faced by our impacted patients and families seeking this gender affirming care and will continue to support their health and well-being. 

The American Academy of Pediatrics says it continues to support access to gender-affirming care.