The Cleveland Clinic has agreed to stop providing transgender-related medical procedures to minors and will pay $308,000 to resolve allegations involving Medicaid billing practices under a settlement with the Department of Justice and the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.
The agreement also requires the hospital system to commit $2 million toward care for people who have detransitioned after receiving transgender-related medical services.
Under the settlement, Cleveland Clinic is barred from providing patients younger than 18 with puberty blockers, hormone treatments or other transgender-related medical services. The agreement describes those treatments as “sex-rejecting procedures.”
The health system is also prohibited from referring minors for such procedures, coordinating the services through third parties, or owning or operating facilities that provide them.
Ohio law currently prohibits transgender-related medical procedures for minors.
The settlement resolves allegations that Cleveland Clinic submitted inaccurate diagnosis codes to Ohio Medicaid beginning Jan. 1, 2020, in connection with transgender- and gender identity-related services provided to minors.
According to federal and state officials, the hospital used diagnosis codes for unspecified endocrine disorders rather than codes they contend more accurately reflected the reasons for the procedures.
Cleveland Clinic described the matter as “an unintentional coding issue involving a small number of patients.”
“We are pleased to have worked collaboratively toward a resolution,” the health system told WKYC.
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“We remain focused on providing exceptional care to our patients and communities,” the statement continued. “We have complied and will continue to comply with all federal and state laws.”
Federal officials said the agreement is part of an ongoing nationwide Department of Justice investigation into providers offering transgender-related medical services to minors.
“The Department of Justice is steadfastly committed to protecting America’s children,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said.
Woodward said the settlement follows a similar agreement reached last month with Texas Children’s Hospital. According to the Justice Department, that agreement required the hospital to pay a $10 million fine, permanently cease sex-rejecting medical procedures for minors and establish a clinic focused on treating detransitioners.
“Just as the resolution with Texas Children’s, today’s resolution with Cleveland Clinic furthers that commitment and puts these providers on notice that this Department will vigorously enforce federal law where children are put at risk,” Woodward said.
Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate said federal investigators will continue examining health care providers and pharmaceutical companies involved in transgender-related procedures for minors.
“I am grateful for this resolution with Cleveland Clinic, but our work is far from over,” Shumate said. “Our division will continue to work tirelessly to protect America’s children and hold accountable those that have preyed on vulnerable children, whether they be pharmaceutical companies or medical providers.”
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