Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office announced that its settlement agreement with Texas Children’s Hospital has been fully executed, finalizing a $10 million payment and requiring the hospital to open what the office describes as the country’s first detransition clinic, according to an Aug. 5 news release from the Office of the Attorney General.
The settlement resolves claims brought under the Texas Health Care Program Fraud Prevention Act and the federal False Claims Act over allegations that the hospital billed Texas Medicaid for gender-transition interventions the state contends were unallowable and illegal, the release said. Of the $10 million total, $8,576,000 will go to the State of Texas.
The attorney general’s office first announced the settlement in May, following what it described as an extensive investigation by its Healthcare Program Enforcement Division. According to the release, the agreement also compels the permanent and irrevocable termination of privileges for multiple physicians and requires Texas Children’s to amend its bylaws so that performing gender-transition interventions triggers automatic relinquishment of medical staff privileges.
With the agreement now fully executed, the office said the required detransition clinic must open by the end of October 2026.
Paxton framed the outcome as a warning to other providers. “This settlement sends an unmistakable message: if you put radical ideology over children’s health, my office will go after you,” the attorney general said in the release, adding that his office “will continue to lead the way” on the issue.
The office posted the full settlement agreement alongside the release. The required clinic opening later this fall will mark the next milestone in the agreement’s implementation, according to the attorney general’s office.