Dive Brief:
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The governing board chair of Florida’s public university system is pressuring a medical school accreditor to take a stance against gender-affirming care for transgender minors, expanding the state’s battle with traditional accreditors.
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Alan Levine — chair of the Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the State University System of Florida — sent a Feb. 12 letter asking the Liaison Committee on Medical Education how medical schools could retain their accreditation if they endorse surgical interventions for minors, arguing that “would seem to clearly violate” the committee’s standards related to the scientific method.
- The board chair asked why the committee hadn’t spoken out against gender-affirming care for minors, such as hormone therapies and surgeries, describing such treatments as “unproven and dangerous.” The American Academy of Pediatrics and other major medical associations support gender-affirming care for minors.
Dive Insight:
The letter — the latest salvo in Florida’s fight against traditional accrediting agencies — is in line with Levine’s priorities as board chair. Earlier this year, Levine asked State University System of Florida Chancellor Ray Rodrigues to evaluate the standards of medical accreditors, adding the state should “consider its options” if the standards weren’t “merit-based,” according to the Tallahassee Democrat.
The Liaison Committee on Medical Education told Higher Ed Dive on Tuesday it had received the letter and would respond this week but did not provide further detail.
Florida officials have been moving to open the door for other accreditors. Most recently, the Florida Supreme Court, which creates certification requirements for the state’s lawyers, amended its prior rule that only allowed graduates of ABA-accredited law schools to take the bar exam in the state to allow for other agencies to play that role.
And last year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that six Southern public university systems would form a new accrediting body, calling the existing system a “cartel” and criticizing other accreditors over their diversity, equity and inclusion standards.
President Donald Trump has likewise made reshaping the accreditation system a policy priority, taking aim at their DEI criteria in an executive order last year.
In that order, Trump specifically called out the Liaison Committee on Medical Education for its standard requiring programs to engage in “ongoing, systematic, and focused recruitment and retention activities, to achieve mission-appropriate diversity outcomes among its students.” Shortly afterward, the accreditor voted to drop its diversity standard.
Levine’s letter combines two conservative priorities: reshaping the accreditation system and curtailing gender-affirming care for transgender minors. Levine is also the CEO of Ballad Health, a health system spanning several Southern states.
In his letter, Levine pointed to a May 2025 report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that raised concerns with gender-affirming care — including puberty blockers, hormone therapies and surgery — for transgender minors. The report, which was commissioned roughly three months earlier by a Trump executive order, said such treatments had “significant risks” and showed little evidence of benefit.
However, the report’s claims conflict with guidance from several major medical associations, which recommend giving families the choice for options like puberty blockers, NPR reported.
“This report misrepresents the current medical consensus and fails to reflect the realities of pediatric care,” Dr. Susan Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said in a statement at the time.
AAP and other major medical associations have voiced support for surgical interventions for transgender minors on an individual basis, according to STAT, an online publication covering health and related topics. However, the American Medical Association recently issued a statement saying that surgical interventions “should be generally deferred to adulthood,” according to media reports.
In his letter to the accreditor, Levine said he was “curious how our nation’s medical schools have led the way” in broadly using “interventional and altering treatments and procedures.”
A 2023 Florida law bans gender-affirming care for minors, including hormone therapies and surgeries, throughout the state.
Surgical interventions for transgender minors are relatively rare, according to a 2023 study published in JAMA Network Open. It found that fewer than 3,700 minors in the U.S. underwent gender-affirming surgery from 2016 to 2020.
