While some hospitals pause gender-affirming surgeries, Keck Medicine of USC in Los Angeles has launched a gender-affirming care program that will offer a range of services, including surgery.
"To address the many healthcare disparties faced by transgender individuals, Keck Medicine has launched the Gender-Affirming Care Program to meet the comprehensive needs of the transgender, nonbinary and gender-diverse community," the academic medical center said in a Dec. 15 news release.
The program, developed with input from the local transgender community, will offer a full range of healthcare services, including preventive cancer screenings, yearly checkups, flu shots, and gender-affirming hormone therapy and surgery.
In recent months, hospitals in cities such as Nashville, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., have reported harassment related to their gender-affirming care services, prompting a request from numerous medical associations for the Justice Department to investigate groups and individuals behind the threats and harrassment.
Memphis, Tenn.-based Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare is the latest hospital to temporarily pause gender-affirming procedures, citing concerns from some clinicians. Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanderbilt University Medical Center in October announced it would halt the surgeries on minors while it conducts an internal clinical review of newly released guidance from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.