Menopause Hormone Therapy (HRT) in New York City, NY

Bioidentical hormones in New York City: what it means

"Bioidentical" is a word compounding pharmacies often use in marketing, but what it describes is real: a hormone built like the body's own. Two hormones used in menopause care fit it exactly, estradiol and micronized progesterone. Neither has to be compounded: FDA-approved estradiol comes as pills, patches, gels, sprays, vaginal creams and rings, and progesterone as capsules.

Many products sold as "bioidentical hormones" or "BHRT" are compounded instead: mixed by a pharmacy for one prescription, often as a custom cream or a pellet. They are not FDA-approved, which means the FDA cannot assure their safety or effectiveness. The FDA also says it has no evidence that they are safe and effective, or more effective than approved hormone therapy. The National Academies, reviewing them for the FDA in 2020, called their wide use a public health concern.

2,205 OB-GYNs in the federal NPI registry give a primary practice address in New York City: 25.9 per 100,000 residents, above the US rate of 17.8 and above New York's 22.5, and more per resident than 63% of the 924 cities VevaMD covers. That is about 500 women aged 45 to 64 for each OB-GYN in the city, a ratio rather than a count of open appointments.

Within 25 miles of New York City there are 3,452 OB-GYNs for 14,075,420 residents (24.5 per 100,000), well above the national rate; 2,276 are in the city or within 10 miles. None of this replaces your own OB-GYN or a menopause doctor you trust; VevaMD adds an online route, with a physician licensed in New York reviewing your answers from home in New York City.

Through VevaMD, a physician licensed in New York decides whether hormone therapy fits you and, if so, the form: an estradiol pill, patch, cream or vaginal cream, with progesterone if you have a uterus. There are no pellets. Because the dispensing pharmacy also compounds, you can ask whether your estradiol or progesterone is an FDA-approved product. Testosterone cream for women and Bi-Est are compounded and not FDA-approved.

Then there are pellets, implanted under the skin at a clinic; compounded pellets are not FDA-approved. The Endocrine Society cites blood levels well above the expected range in women using compounded pellets. ACOG recommends FDA-approved menopause hormone therapy over compounded hormones.

Sources: FDA: Menopause · FDA: National Academies study of compounded bioidentical hormones (2020) · Endocrine Society position statement on compounded bioidentical hormones (2019) · ACOG Clinical Consensus No. 6, compounded bioidentical menopausal hormone therapy (2023) · CMS NPPES NPI full file, 2026-10-11