The Tennessee attorney general's office, which is looking into transgender healthcare practices and "potential medical billing fraud" at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., secured more than five years of a transgender patients' medical records from the hospital, according to a June 20 report from The Tennesseean.
VUMC made patients aware of the state's investigation into its "billing for transgender care services provided to individuals enrolled in state-sponsored insurance plans," the report said.
The state has the legal authority to request patient medical records relating to an investigation. "VUMC was obligated to comply and did so," John Howser, chief communications officer at the health system, told Becker's.
"Vanderbilt University Medical Center complies with all healthcare privacy and security requirements established under both fand Tennessee law including, but not limited to, HIPAA," he said. These laws "generally require that personally identified patient healthcare information be maintained as confidential" and not be disclosed to third parties, Mr. Howser said, noting the attorney general's office gave the hospital "assurance that the records would remain confidential as required by Tennessee law."
VUMC paused performing gender affirmation surgeries on patients younger than 18 in October after receiving a letter of concern Sept. 28 from about 60 Republican Tennessee lawmakers. In the letter, they wrote they were "alarmed by recent reports" that detailed "the surgical mutilations of minor children" at VUMC.
In a response letter, VUMC said gender-affirming surgical procedures had been performed on "an average of five [patients] each year" between 2018 and September 2022, but it maintained "none of these patients were under age 16, none had received genital procedures and VUMC obtained parental consent to these procedures in all cases."
Becker's asked Mr. Howser if VUMC restarted performing gender-affirming surgeries on patients younger than 18 in the nine months since it "paused" transgender care. He offered this statement: "Pertaining to gender-affirming care at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, we continue to fully comply with all federal and state laws and are carefully following the legal proceedings challenging the constitutionality of Tennessee’s new law."
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed legislation March 2 banning gender-affirming healthcare for youths in the state. The law goes into effect July 1.