Two More Hospitals Strike DOJ Deals to End Gender-Affirming Care for Minors

This story originally appeared on The Advocate.Major hospital systems in New York and Pennsylvania have struck deals with the Justice Department that carry steep financial penalties and keep gender-affirming services closed to minors.NYU Langone Health will pay the department $8.5 million, and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center will pay $950,000, the department announced Friday. The deals come after providers in New York, Texas, Ohio and Connecticut adopted similar agreements.President Donald Trump has moved to ban gender-affirming care for minors since his second term began. Last December, the Trump administration threatened to revoke federal funding from hospitals that provide the services to minors. Federal officials have also sought unprecedented access to medical records from the programs.Related: Trans kids’ medical records remain private after Trump DOJ loses againThe press release did not specify how proceeds from the deals would be used. In previous deals, the department announced plans to partially use funds from the hospitals to cover so-called detransition services for youth who received care from gender-affirming providers.Neither hospital returned requests for comment from The Advocate, but both had been under investigation by the Justice Department over their gender-affirming care programs.In its press release, the department has alleged youth gender-affirming care providers may be violating the law through “fraudulent billing practices” used to “obtain payment from federal health care programs and private insurers.”Neither hospital admitted to these claims by taking the deal. In a Friday press release, NYU Langone said it took the deal to circumvent the department’s subpoena for sensitive records about doctors and patients involved in the hospital’s trans youth health program.“We believe this resolution is in the best interests of our patients and their families, protecting them as well as our providers and the institution fr