Standards Developments for Improving Care for Transgender People

Outdated GSSO information practices contribute to institutional and interpersonal stigma for transgender people in healthcare. Poorly defined data elements, conflated sex and gender concepts, constrained representation of gender variation, and lack of cultural understanding on the part of health information professionals and clinicians are contributing to healthcare environments and interactions that stigmatize transgender people and that drive health inequities. In this chapter, I will review recent developments in standards oriented toward addressing gender bias in the technical structures that support healthcare institutions. I will focus on the international work of Canada Health Infoway’s Sex and Gender Working Group and the Health Level Seven International Gender Harmony Project. The intent is to provide an overview of these efforts and garner further interest, participation and adoption standards that support safe and gender-affirming healthcare for all people.