The transgender patient and your practice: what physicians and staff need to know.

This article describes challenges faced by transgender patients in seeking medical treatment and details best practices that medical practices should implement in order to optimize positive outcomes for their transgender patients. It provides an initial lexicon of terminology practitioners should use. The article then turns to developing cultural competence across the entire practice, implementing policies and practices to provide effective and appropriate healthcare services to transgender patients, ensuring legal compliance, and fostering a safe, open, and nondiscriminatory treatment environment for all patients. It also examines some of the specific health insurance challenges transgender patients face.