Trans Health Care in Florida: What You Need to Know | News and opinion

On Friday, August 5, the Florida Board of Medicine voted to adopt a “standard of care” that opposes gender-affirming care for transgender youth, ignoring warnings from medical professionals and parents of transgender children — a move that puts medical professionals at risk of providing life-saving care. This vote does not immediately impose restrictions on gender-affirming care, but initiates a regulatory process to do so.

This is the latest in a concerted attack on the health care needs of transgender youth and adolescents. Below you’ll find an explanation of what’s happening in Florida, what might happen next, and steps Floridians can take to protect trans children, their families, and their healthcare providers.

The Florida State Board of Medicine (BOM) is responsible for establishing standards of care for all medical providers in Florida and enforcing compliance with licensure and disciplinary review. Changing standards of care (at a minimum) requires formal rulemaking under the Florida Administrative Procedure Act. On Friday, Aug. 5, the board officially began the formal rulemaking process, which can last up to 180 days and usually takes at least 90 days to complete, to consider proposed rules that would limit medically necessary care for transgender youth. The proposed changes to state care standards do two things:

1. Threatening health care providers with penalties or fines if they provide gender-affirming care as treatment to anyone under 18 years of age. Gender dysphoria.
2. Limit waiting periods for adults seeking gender-affirming care and require adults to sign an informed consent form that includes misinformation about the risks of gender-affirming care.

According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, “Gender-affirming care is supportive health care. It consists of a variety of services for transgender and non-binary people that may include medical, surgical, mental health and non-medical services. For transgender and non-binary children and adolescents, early gender-affirming care is critical to overall health and well-being because it can help the child or adolescent focus on social transition and increase their confidence as they navigate the health care system.

Gender-affirming care is a highly individualized form of health care, and differs for each person based on age, gender, and other physical and mental health needs. For prenatal transgender youth, this care typically includes “social transition” (changing clothes, hair, name, etc.) and Absolutely It involves surgery or other irreversible medical treatment. During or after puberty, many transgender youth may receive reversible puberty blockers, hormone replacement therapy, or other medical interventions as supervised and prescribed by medical professionals. Some older transgender adolescents may seek and receive surgical services on a case-by-case basis, as recommended by the International Transgender Health Professional Association.

Gender-affirming care is recognized as the only evidence-based approach to addressing the health care needs of transgender youth, including serious mental health risks. For more:

Florida’s ongoing efforts to ban gender-affirming care have already been heavily criticized by the medical community. In June, the Agency for Health Care Administration, which oversees Florida’s Medicaid program, published a report saying that health care requirements for gender dysphoria were inconsistent with nationally accepted Medicaid coverage standards. Medical and legal experts quickly condemned the proposed regulations “Completely wrong and lacking in scientific weight.” In April, the Florida Department of Health (DOH) issued a memo opposing gender confirmation for children and adolescents. Researchers cited the Surgeon General in the memo to explain these limitations They accused him of misrepresenting their work.and condemned the proposed restrictions.

Three hundred Floridian health care providers who work with transgender youth published an open letter in the Tampa Bay Times. Condemning the proposed regulations. The guidelines from the governor and surgeon general “misrepresent the weight of the evidence, do not allow for personalized patient- and family-centered care, and, if followed, lead to higher rates of youth depression and suicide,” the experts wrote.

Similar restrictions signed into law Arkansas And Alabama Both are blocked by federal courts.

The Florida State Medical Board’s vote was prompted by a “rulemaking request” submitted to the board by the DOH at the behest of Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, who heads the DOH. The move comes at the direction of Gov. Ron DeSantis, who appoints BOM members and takes broader action. Extremist and anti-trans political agenda.

Now that the board has begun rulemaking, they will work internally to draft the rule, submit it for formal review, comments and public hearings, and finally issue a final rule. Once they publish their proposed rule, they must receive public comments for 21 days and then hold a public hearing. After the hearing, they must wait at least 14 days to publish the final version of the regulation. The final regulation will take effect 20 days after its publication.

If the board issues a final rule banning sex-affirming care for minors (or a broader one), it will take effect in October or November 2022.

If the final rule is adopted and goes into effect (and not ordered by a court), this means that any providers who continue to serve minors will be subject to professional discipline by the BOM. Disciplinary proceedings may be initiated by a public complaint and directly by the surgeon’s staff. That discipline may result in suspension or revocation of medical licenses.

Presumably, that means all providers will voluntarily stop providing such care, health care insurance plans will actively stop covering it, and rogue insurers will charge higher premiums even if they don’t cover minors or drop coverage for gender-affirming providers. People covered by the ban.

After the BOM publishes a rule that proposes to change the standard of care to prohibit gender-affirming care for minors, the board is required to receive written comments from the public for 21 days from the date the proposed rule is published in the Florida Administration. Sign up. At the end of 21 days, a public discussion will be held by the board. Comments submitted by the public via e-mail or written correspondence will be included in the official record of BOM proceedings.

Members of the public may also attend the public hearing, although the number of individuals who may speak at the public hearing may be limited, subject to the control of the BOM. During public hearings on Medicaid rule changes in July 2022, the Health Care Administration filled its speaker’s rooms with speakers who hated gender-affirming care. If the BOM takes a similar approach, it may be difficult or futile to try to get public comment on the hearing.

It is one of the most important things you can do Register to vote Before the Oct. 11 registration deadline and help elect lawmakers who will work to protect the rights of transgender youth, their families and their health care providers.

In addition to participating in the bylaw process, you can make a difference by getting to know your neighbors and being part of your local community. Gender-affirming care is poorly understood by the public, and hostile groups use fear and misinformation about gender-affirming care and the transgender community. Visibility and involvement in the local community can help the community understand that gender-affirming care is not a risk to society and should be allowed like other medical services.