(b) "Gender-affirming health care" means medically necessary health care or mental health care that respects the gender identity of the patient, as experienced and defined by the patient, and that may include but is not limited to:
- (1) interventions to suppress the development of endogenous secondary sex characteristics;
- (2) interventions to align the patient's appearance or physical body with the patient's gender identity;
- (3) interventions to alleviate the patient's symptoms of clinically significant distress resulting from gender dysphoria as defined in the current version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; and
- (4) developmentally appropriate exploration and integration of the patient's gender identity, reduction of the patient's distress, adaptive coping, and strategies to increase family acceptance of the patient's gender identity.