Texas Children's Hospital to open detransition clinic following settlement

Texas Children's Hospital has reached a settlement with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and the U.S. Department of Justice following an investigation into illegal gender-transition interventions for minors and Medicaid fraud. Under the terms of the agreement, the Houston-based hospital must pay $10 million to the state.

The settlement addresses allegations that the hospital used false diagnosis codes to secure Medicaid funding for services prohibited under Texas Senate Bill 14. As part of the agreement, the hospital is required to establish the nation's first multidisciplinary detransition clinic, which must be operational by the end of October. The clinic will provide restorative medical care and will be fully funded by the hospital and free to patients for its first five years.

Additionally, the hospital has agreed to terminate the medical privileges of five physicians involved in performing these procedures and is permanently barred from rehiring them. The hospital stated that the settlement was a "difficult decision" following a long legal battle.