The University of Mississippi Medical Center is disbanding the LGBTQ+ clinic that came under scrutiny from lawmakers last fall for offering gender-affirming care like hormone therapy and puberty blockers to trans minors.
About 67 LGBTQ+ Adults who have received services at the clinic this year, from routine check-ups to gender-affirmation care, will be affected. It is unclear whether trans adults will be able to receive gender-affirming care at other UMMC clinics.
The center’s co-director who oversees the TEAM clinic said he felt “completely blindsided” by the decision to close operations on June 30, which was made without him, and worries about the ethics of suddenly closing a specialty clinic to to a marginalized group. of patients
“This is an institution that responds with fear and doesn’t respond with reason,” said Alex Mills, a professor of pharmacy at the University of Mississippi and co-director of the Center for Sexual and Gender Minority Health. Oversaw operations at the TEAM clinic. “It’s demoralizing and dehumanizing to the LGBTQ community.”
The surprise decision is based “in part” on a legislative committee report released last month that included recommendations about steps UMMC could take to close the pioneering EQUIP, or “Reliable, Evidence-Based, Affirmative, Multidisciplinary” clinic , wrote Dr. Alan. Jones, the associate vice chancellor for clinical affairs, in an email Thursday morning.
“UMMC will cease clinic operations at the end of this academic year, on June 30, 2023,” read Jones’ email to clinic providers. “All patients will be contacted by phone in the coming days that are currently scheduled on this change. Please work with your department manager to ensure a smooth process during this change.”
UMMC did not respond to questions about the future of patient care at the clinic when this story was published.
Services for trans children have been limited at UMMC since executive leadership decided the clinic should stop seeing minors after lawmakers complained, according to emails obtained by Mississippi Today. The Legislature then passed House Bill 1125 earlier this year, which completely bans gender-based care for trans youth.
As of Thursday afternoon, the web pages for the TEAM Clinic and the Center for Gender and Sexual Minority Health had been removed from the UMMC website.
“We’re being wiped out,” Mills said.
He has several new patients scheduled for their first appointment tomorrow at the TEAM clinic; now he doesn’t know what he will tell them.
Immediately after receiving the email, Mills wrote to Jones’ assistant to request a meeting, hoping to ask if UMMC could postpone the shutdown for 90 days to give patients a smooth transition.
Mills received an email from Brian Rutledge, chief of staff to Vice Chancellor Dr. LouAnn Woodward, Thursday afternoon. His request was denied.
“Dr. Jones cannot meet, but UMMC will handle everything related to the UMMC TEAM Clinic and its patients,” Rutledge wrote. “After this point, I would encourage you to work directly with your chair or dean of the UM College of Pharmacy about how this affects your practice responsibilities within your faculty role there.”
Mills said his department chair’s request to meet with Jones was also denied.
Because the decision was made without him, Mills said he doesn’t know what the leadership transition plan entails.
He plans to write a letter to give to patients tomorrow, but he doesn’t know if UMMC management has already written one. He doesn’t know who will notify his patients, what they’ll be told or what kind of care UMMC will give them after the month is up, or even who their providers will be.
He does not know what will happen to the clinic space or to the three grant proposals he has just presented.
“Why isn’t this being communicated to the people who run the damn clinic?” Mills said.
The legislative committee report, released by the Joint Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review, or PEER, recommended that UMMC could dissolve the TEAM clinic by “integrating services” back into the center’s usual care environment medical and provide “optional LGBTQ training courses to all.” staff and students”.
Even if UMMC fully follows PEER’s recommendation and continues to offer gender-affirming care to trans adults, Mills said she doesn’t know if it will be done in a respectful and dignified way. What made the TEAM clinic unique, Mills said, was that it was a dedicated space where LGBTQ+ patients could be assured that every employee, from the receptionists to the nurses, believed that trans people existed and would use the appropriate pronouns.
That is why the clinic was co-founded in 2015 by Dr. Scott Rodgers, who is now the associate vice chancellor for academic affairs at UMMC: To try to help LGBTQ+ people in Mississippi overcome one of the biggest barriers to care they face, which is finding providers who respect his sexuality. and gender identity.
2019 press release of UMMC emphasized the clinic’s unique mission: “to ensure that all Mississippi residents have access to high-quality, holistic primary health care,” regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation.
Mills had feared that would happen since UMMC leadership decided the clinic had to stop providing care to trans youth after lawmakers complained last fall. When that happened, Mills said he at least had some input.
“Mind you, it was secret, but we had a meeting to discuss a plan that was at least appropriate and ethical,” he said. “But that’s not how leaders should work. It’s not how you should behave in any workplace. It’s just a big slap in the face.”
Now he worries that even if the TEAM clinic is closed and its services are scattered across the medical center, it still won’t be enough to appease lawmakers.
“They’re trying to wipe out a group of people,” Mills said. “If they find out it’s going to be in other clinics, now people will complain and say all UMMC is doing.”
“I hope and pray that’s not the case,” he added.
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