TACOMA, Wash. — The gender health clinic at the MultiCare Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital in Tacoma will be closing its doors sometime this week.
MultiCare said they were closing the clinic due to “recent escalations at the federal level to eliminate medical interventions to treat gender dysphoria for minors nationwide, as well as investigations and significant penalizations of health care organizations that provide such care.”
“This was an incredibly painful decision, and one that we wish that we did not have to make,” MultiCare said in a statement.
The organization said they have worked for the last year to find options that would allow it to continue operations.
“Unfortunately, continuing to provide gender-care-related medical treatment to minors puts our organization and our providers at too great a risk for government investigation and enforcement actions, including cutting off Medicare and Medicaid payments to MultiCare’s entire health system. Nearly 75% of MultiCare patients — and more than 62% of Mary Bridge Children’s patients — depend on Medicare and Medicaid.
Loss of this funding not only undermines MultiCare’s ability to operate, but more critically, threatens patients’ access to essential care in every region that MultiCare offers care," MultiCare said in a statement.
Impacted patients can continue to access behavioral health care from Mary Bridge Children’s and MultiCare. The hospital is working to direct patients to other care alternatives.
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