Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti launched a fraud investigation into Vanderbilt University Medical Center's transgender clinic.
The probe was sparked by a 2019 video of Dr. Shayne Sebold Taylor, the clinic's founder, discussing billing practices.
In the video, Taylor disclosed her strategy of manipulating billing codes to ensure transgender patients aren't fully billed for treatments not covered by insurance. She used vague codes such as "endocrine disorder — not otherwise specified" to get insurance companies to pay, according to the Daily Mail.
Skrmetti said the investigation is about fraud and not the targeting of transgender issues. His office had obtained medical records of 106 patients covered by state insurance plans as part of the investigation.
But critics questioned the timing, as Skrmetti's probe comes after conservative Gov. Bill Lee called for the clinic's investigation. Skrmetti said office initiates such investigations regularly for medical billing fraud.
"Would you have initiated this investigation if it had involved a heart doctor, a kidney doctor, a dermatologist?" Nashville's News Channel 5 asked.
"Absolutely," Skrmetti said. "We do dozens of investigations a year for medical billing fraud."
Vanderbilt University Medical Center declined to comment on the ongoing investigation, saying it strives to provide quality care and bill appropriately.
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