CHICAGO — Lurie Children’s Hospital is scaling back its gender-affirming care for minors, the hospital said Tuesday, days after a top federal official called for an investigation into the hospital.

The hospital will no longer offer gender-affirming medications for patients younger than 18 who have not previously been treated with the medications at Lurie, the hospital said in a statement Tuesday. Lurie said in the statement that it made the decision because of “actions by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services” including a department official’s announcement Thursday that he was referring Lurie for investigation.

“This threatens our ability to care for all of our patients,” Lurie wrote in the statement. “We empathize with those who are struggling with this decision and who have shown unwavering dedication to supporting gender-diverse patients.”

On Thursday, Mike Stuart, general counsel for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said in a post on X that he had referred six hospitals, including Lurie, for investigation by the department’s Office of Inspector General.

“These hospitals appear to continue to operate outside recognized standards of healthcare and entirely outside @SecKennedy’s declaration that sex-rejecting procedures for children and adolescents are neither safe nor effective,” Stuart wrote.

Stuart was referring to a declaration issued late last month by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services saying that puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries are not safe nor effective treatments for pediatric gender dysphoria — a message that followed the November release of a report by the department on treatments for gender dysphoria.

Gender-affirming care can include a range of services such as puberty blockers, which are medications that delay puberty; hormone therapy, which can help individuals develop male or female characteristics; and surgeries to remove the breasts or alter genitals.

Lurie had already suspended gender-affirming surgeries for minors last year, shortly after President Donald Trump issued an executive order instructing federal officials to take action to block gender-affirming care for minors.

Until now, Lurie had been one of just a few Chicago area hospitals still providing gender-affirming medications to minors. Over the past year, many Chicago area hospitals have pulled back on their gender affirming care for minors, amid funding threats from the administration of President Donald Trump.

Last year, Lurie and UI Health suspended gender-affirming surgeries for minors but continued to provide other types of gender-affirming care. UI Health said in a statement Tuesday that it has not made other changes to its gender-affirming care services since stopping surgeries for patients younger than 19 in August.

UChicago Medicine halted its gender-affirming pediatric care entirely over the summer, and Advocate Health Care said in August it would no longer provider gender-affirming medications to patients younger than 19. Rush University System for Health stopped offering hormonal care to new patients under the age of 18 this summer.

In December, the administration took another step toward actually pulling funding from hospitals providing the services, formally proposing rules that would strip Medicare and Medicaid funding from hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to anyone younger than 18.

Most hospitals would not be able to survive a loss of Medicare and Medicaid dollars. About half of Lurie’s patients were on Medicaid in 2022, according to the state. Medicaid is a state and federally funded health insurance program for people with low incomes or disabilities.

“Under my leadership, and answering President Trump’s call to action, the federal government will do everything in its power to stop unsafe, irreversible practices that put our children at risk,” said Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in a news release, at the time the rules were proposed. “This Administration will protect America’s most vulnerable. Our children deserve better — and we are delivering on that promise.”

Shortly after the new, proposed rules and the declaration were released in December, Illinois and 20 other states filed a lawsuit in federal court in Oregon over the declaration. That lawsuit is now pending, though the federal government has agreed not to issue any notices to hospitals about a loss of funding for the time being, until after the judge decides on a motion for summary judgment or until 30 days after a hearing is held on that motion.

The United Kingdom has already banned the use of puberty blockers to treat gender dysphoria in people younger than 18 after one of the country’s top pediatricians released a report finding that evidence in favor of puberty blockers for adolescents was weak, and more research was needed.

But advocates for the care say it can be lifesaving, with other studies showing improved mental health for transgender and gender-diverse youths who receive gender-affirming care. The American Academy of Pediatrics also supports access to gender-affirming care for minors.

The other hospitals Stuart said Thursday he referred for investigation include Nemours Children’s Hospital in Delaware, Boston Children’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, New York University Langone Health and Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Oregon.

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