Medical Review Policy

The two labels we use

Every editorial page on The HRT Index carries one of two labels in the byline area:

• Clinically reviewed by [Name, Credentials]— applied to pages a licensed clinician on our review board has read and signed off on. The reviewer's name, credentials, and the review date are visible in the byline.
• Editorial research — not medically reviewed — applied to pages that have not undergone clinical review. The label is plain language and prominent. The reader is told, explicitly, that the page is editorial research and is told to consult her own clinician before starting, stopping, or changing hormone therapy.

The labels are the most important trust signal we publish. We do not falsify them. We do not apply the “clinically reviewed” label to a page that has not been reviewed by a named clinician with appropriate credentials. Where a page is in the process of being reviewed but the review is not yet complete, the page carries the editorial-research label until the review is finished and signed off.

Who is qualified to review

A reviewer for The HRT Index must hold an active US licence in a relevant clinical discipline and have demonstrable expertise in the subject of the page. For HRT-specific content, that means one of the following:

• A physician (MD or DO) holding The Menopause Society Certified Practitioner (MSCP) credential, with active practice or documented expertise in menopause management.
• An OB/GYN, family-medicine, or internal-medicine physician with documented menopause-specialty practice or fellowship training.
• A nurse practitioner or physician assistant with active women's health practice, with preference for those holding the MSCP credential or equivalent.
• A clinical pharmacist (PharmD) for content focused on prescribing, interactions, or pharmacology.

A reviewer's discipline must match the content. A clinician reviews subject matter inside her area of competence; she does not sign off on subject matter outside it.

What appears on reviewer profiles

Each reviewer profile includes the reviewer's name, credentials, clinical discipline, relevant specialty or focus area, menopause-specific credential if applicable (MSCP), review scope, review date history, and conflict-of-interest disclosure. We do not use anonymous clinical reviewers for pages labeled as clinically reviewed.

What the reviewer is signing off on

The reviewer is attesting that, to the best of her professional judgment, the clinical claims on the page are accurate, the framing is appropriate for the lay reader, and the page does not encourage the reader to take medical action without a real clinical encounter. The reviewer is not warranting the page's accuracy as a matter of legal certification; she is exercising professional judgment, and her judgment is the foundation of the credential we display.

What the reviewer is not signing off on

The reviewer is not endorsing any provider, product, affiliate relationship, ranking, or purchase decision. Clinical review applies only to the medical accuracy and safety framing of the page reviewed. Provider rankings remain editorial judgements under our methodology.

How to identify clinically reviewed pages

A clinically reviewed page displays, at the top of the page next to the editorial team byline, the reviewer's name and credentials (for example, “Clinically reviewed by Jane Doe, MD, MSCP”) and a link to the reviewer's profile on our medical reviewers page. The page also carries the review date.

Re-review cadence

Clinically reviewed HRT, medication, contraindication, and safety pages are re-reviewed at least every 12 months, and sooner if major guidance, FDA labeling, provider formulary, or prescribing information changes. The review date in the byline reflects the most recent review, not the original publication date.

Current review status

As of May 2026, no pages on The HRT Index carry the “Clinically reviewed” label. We are actively recruiting reviewers. Until a named reviewer is listed and a page carries the clinically-reviewed label, every page should be treated as editorial research only. We will not falsify review labels in order to ship pages faster.

If you are a clinician interested in joining the review board, please reach the editorial team at our contact page. Candidates with MSCP credentials, OB/GYN practice with menopause specialization, internal-medicine or family-medicine practice with menopause training, or PharmD credentials with women's-hormone-therapy experience are particularly welcome.

Reader questions

If you would like to know whether a specific page has been clinically reviewed, who reviewed it, when the review was performed, or what the reviewer attested to, please write to the editorial team. We will answer.