The Boston Globe received a copy of a letter shared to parents and guardians explaining the Springfield, Mass. health care system Baystate Health was halting gender-affirming hormone prescriptions and puberty-blocking meds for transgender youth, although it would continue to provide them with mental health counseling and transfer access to their medications to another provider that will provide them with meds.

Reports the Boston Globe

According to the letter, it will transfer the patients’ medications to Transhealth or another provider of the patient’s choice. 

“This decision offers patients the specialized expertise and continuity of care they need and deserve and reflects the evolving regulatory landscape that threatens hundreds of millions of dollars in hospital Medicaid and Medicare funding,” Baystate said in a separate statement to the Globe. 

Baystate Health told the Globe that nearly 70% of its patients rely on Medicaid or Medicare. 

Neither Baystate Health nor Transhealth responded to a request for additional information on Wednesday. 

The move is the latest in a series of pullbacks of gender-affirming care for minors in New England, as health care centers reassess services amid increasing federal and state restrictions. 

In October, Fenway Health, a cornerstone of Boston’s LGBTQ+ community, announced it would stop providing gender-affirming care for patients under 19, also citing it as a response to new federal requirements tied to funding. In August, New Hampshire became the first state in New England to ban gender-affirming care medication for minors.

Read the complete Boston Globe story here.

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