News  Pharmacies and Practitioners Who Prescribe Reproductive and Gender-Affirming Medications

The purpose of this advisory is to notify pharmacies and practitioners who prescribe reproductive and gender-affirming medications of enhanced protections included in recent legislation.

On August 7, 2025, Governor Healey signed into law Chapter 16 of the Acts of 2025, An Act Strengthening Health Care Protections in the Commonwealth, also referred to as the “Shield Law 2.0.”[1] This law strengthens protections for healthcare providers who offer reproductive and gender-affirming care in the state, in response to escalating threats from other states and the federal government seeking to criminalize such care.

The Shield Law 2.0 requires pharmacies to label Schedule VI medications prescribed for reproductive or gender-affirming care with the name of the healthcare practice instead of the individual prescribing practitioner, upon request from the prescriber. This provides an extra layer of privacy and protection for the prescribing practitioner.  M.G.L. c. 94C, §§ 21 & 22.

This exception does not apply to federally controlled substances, such as testosterone. Prescription labels for federally controlled substances will continue to require a prescribing practitioner name in accordance with federal law (21 CFR 1306.24).

Prescribing practitioners must notify the pharmacy in some way, including, but not limited to methods such as making a note on the prescription, verbally contacting the pharmacy, or otherwise notifying the pharmacy of their request to use the name of the healthcare practice on the prescription label in place of their own name. The request must be made for each new prescription issued.

Pharmacy Guidance:

• Ensure that the request is documented and institute a process or systems change to replace the prescribing practitioner’s name on the prescription label with the name of the practice while assuring that the prescribing practitioner’s name remains associated with the prescription record. Contact your software vendor for assistance.
• Ensure repeatability of the process in subsequent refills of the prescription, if applicable, so that the prescription label does not revert to the prescribing practitioner’s name.
• There is no requirement for the pharmacy to notify the prescribing practitioner that their request to list the name of the practice has been fulfilled.

Statutory authority: M.G.L. c. 94C §§ 21 and 22

Please direct any questions to: Pharmacy.Admin@mass.gov