Atrium Health no longer providing gender-affirming care to trans youth

CHARLOTTE, NC — Some Atrium Health patients have received an email recently saying the hospital will no longer provide medications for Gender Affirming Care.

Dr. Holly Savoy with Charlotte Trans Health says patients are worried about their health after learning the news.

“Gender affirming care technically includes a lot of things. It can include hormone replacement for a cisgender woman. It can include testosterone replacement. It can include hair transplants. It’s Botox for your face,” explained Dr. Savoy.

Earlier this month, Atrium’s parent company Advocate Health chose to stop Gender Affirming Care for patients under 19.

In a statement to WCCB, Advocate Health wrote:

“Like many health systems across the country, we have been closely monitoring the evolving regulatory environment pertaining to health care. We have revised our policy to no longer provide or prescribe gender-affirming care medications for patients under age 19.

 Our physicians and clinical teams have been reaching out to each individual patient affected by this change to ensure they are aware of what it means for their care and provide the personalized support they may need. Recognizing that this will be difficult news for patients who are affected by this change, we’ve established a dedicated, 24/7 hotline to assist them, with a specific focus on providing any counseling support that may be needed or desired.

 We recognize that this is a deeply complex issue, and this decision was made after a multi-disciplinary team spent numerous hours carefully considering the options and outcomes. This new policy allows our hospitals, clinics and pharmacies to continue caring for all patients’ health needs in the changing federal environment.”

Savoy says there is common misconception about gender-affirming care with trans youth. She tells WCCB many believe parents and others are not involved in the decision and that’s simply not true.

“Anyone under the age of 18 needs to have parental consent for these decisions, and they are spending time talking with mental health providers like myself as a psychologist or other clinicians to talk through these decisions, explore identity,” said Dr. Savoy.

Atrium Health is the largest health care provider in our area. Savoy worries other hospitals will follow.

“That’s our fear is that if such a large health care institution in our state falls, then who else is going to follow suit,” explained Savoy.