The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it has referred Children’s Hospital Colorado to its inspector general over what it described as noncompliance with newly announced federal standards targeting certain gender-related medical interventions for minors. The hospital is separately asking a federal court to block a Justice Department subpoena seeking records tied to its care for transgender adolescents, as a coalition of Democratic-led states challenges the federal initiative in court.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said Tuesday that it referred Children’s Hospital Colorado to the department’s Office of Inspector General, citing what HHS described as the hospital’s failure to meet “recognized standards of health care” set out in a public health declaration signed by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (dailywire.com)
HHS General Counsel Mike Stuart said the department “will always take every possible action to ensure children all across the nation are safe and protected,” according to a statement quoted by The Daily Wire. (dailywire.com)
The referral comes amid a broader Trump administration push to restrict federally supported care the administration calls “sex-rejecting procedures” for minors. On December 18, 2025, HHS announced proposed Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services rules that would bar hospitals from performing such procedures on patients under 18 as a condition of participation in Medicare and Medicaid, and would also limit federal Medicaid funding for these procedures for those under 18, with a parallel restriction on federal Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) funding for those under 19. (hhs.gov)
HHS said Kennedy’s declaration—described by the department as based on an HHS “peer-reviewed report”—concluded that these interventions “do not meet professionally recognized standards of health care,” and warned that practitioners who perform them on minors would be deemed out of compliance with those standards. (hhs.gov)
Children’s Hospital Colorado is also in a separate court fight over a Justice Department administrative subpoena issued in July seeking documents related to the hospital’s provision of gender-affirming care to adolescents. The subpoena seeks materials including insurance claims and billing records, internal guidance, and information tied to prescriptions of puberty blockers or “cross-sex hormones,” according to court filings described in reporting and in a multistate amicus brief supporting the hospital’s motion to quash. (dailywire.com)
The Justice Department’s inquiry is focused on whether the “promotion, marketing, labeling, sale, and distribution” of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for treatment of gender dysphoria and related disorders could violate the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, according to court documents referenced in reporting. (dailywire.com)
The hospital has argued that complying would require disclosure of sensitive medical information. California Attorney General Rob Bonta, whose office backed the hospital in an amicus brief, said the subpoena seeks “patient records” and personally identifying information, and called it an overreach. (oag.ca.gov)
Separately, a coalition of 19 states and Washington, D.C., filed suit in federal court in Oregon in late December challenging Kennedy’s declaration and the administration’s effort to threaten exclusion from Medicare and Medicaid for providers offering the care. The states argue the declaration is unlawful and procedurally flawed; HHS has defended the declaration and related proposed rules as necessary to protect children. (apnews.com)
