Community Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

Effective April 2, 2020

Thank you for being part of our community. The community is owned and controlled by the American Hospital Association (“AHA,” “we,” or “our”). To ensure the best possible experience for all members, we have established some basic guidelines for participation.

By joining and using this community, you agree that you have read and will follow these Terms of Use (the “Terms”). You also agree to reserve discussions and shared files and content to that best suited to the medium. The community is intended for and applicable only for residents of the United States, age 18 years or older, that are employees of an Allied Hospital Association (“Allied Association”).  If you do not meet all of these criteria, you may not use this Site.

This is a great medium with which to solicit the advice of your peers, benefit from their experience, and participate in an ongoing conversation. Questions should be directed by using the Contact Us form.

Please take a moment to acquaint yourself with these Terms. From time to time we may update these Terms.  Your use of the community after we post any changes to these Terms constitutes your agreement to those changes.  You agree to review these Terms periodically to ensure that you are familiar with the most recent version.  We may, in our sole discretion, and at any time, discontinue the community or any part thereof, with or without notice, or may prevent your use of the community with or without notice to you.  You agree that you do not have any rights in the community and that the AHA will have no liability to you if the community is discontinued or your ability to access the community or any content you may have posted on the community is terminated. If you have questions, contact the member services department. In order to preserve an environment that encourages both civil and fruitful dialogue, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate membership in this community for anyone who violate these rules.

The Community Rules

• Respect others. Focus on the content of posts and not on the people making them. Please extend the benefit of the doubt to newer guests and members; there’s no such thing as a stupid question.
• Respect others’ privacy. Do not collect or store personal data about other users of the community, or post about other community members. Never post or upload any protected health information.
• Respect the purpose of the community. Use the community to share successes, challenges, constructive feedback, questions, and goals instead of products or services that you provide. If you’ve found a product or service helpful, please share your experience with the group in a respectful way.
• Use caution when discussing products. Information posted on the discussion groups and in the libraries is available for all to see, and comments are subject to libel, slander, and antitrust laws.
• All defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials are strictly prohibited. Do not post anything that you would not want the world to see or that you would not want anyone to know came from you. Do not upload, post, email, or otherwise transmit any material that contains viruses or any other computer code, files, or programs which might interrupt, limit, or interfere with the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment.
• Respect intellectual property. Post content that you have personally created or have permission to use and have properly attributed to the content creator.
• When posting items in our collaborative environment, please indicate if the item is not available for reuse. It’s also advisable to contact the owner of any material if you would like to reuse it.
• Post your message or documents only to the most appropriate communities. This helps ensure all messages receive the best response by eliminating "noise."
• Do not use the community for any commercial purpose, and do not upload, post, email, or otherwise transmit any advertising or promotional materials or any other form of solicitation or unauthorized communication.

Discussion Group Etiquette

• State concisely and clearly the topic of your comments in the subject line. This allows members to respond more appropriately to your posting and makes it easier for members to search the archives by subject.
• Send messages such as "thanks for the information" or "me, too" to individuals, not to the entire list. Do this by using the "Reply to Sender" link in every message.
• Do not send administrative messages, such as “remove me from the list,” to the group. Instead, use the web interface to change your settings or to remove yourself from a list. If you are changing email addresses, you do not need to remove yourself from the list and rejoin under your new email address. Simply change your settings.

The Legal Stuff
This site is provided as a service for the members of the Allied Associations.  The AHA is not responsible for the opinions and information posted on this site by others. The AHA does not endorse, verify, evaluate or guarantee any information provided by users and nothing shall be considered as an endorsement, verification or guarantee of any of the content available through the community. The community is provided on an “as is, as available” basis. We disclaim all warranties with regard to information posted on this site, whether posted by the AHA, the Allied Associations or any third party; this disclaimer includes all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness. In no event shall the AHA be liable for any special, indirect, or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data, or profits, arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of any information posted on this site.

AHA Content

Content in the community that is provided by AHA or its licensors, including certain graphics, photographs, images, screen shots, text, digitally downloadable files, trademarks, logos, product and program names, slogans, and the compilation of the foregoing (“AHA Content") is the property of AHA and its licensors, and is protected in the U.S. and internationally under trademark, copyright, and other intellectual property laws.

You agree not to download, display or use any AHA Content located within the community for use in any publications, in public performances, on websites other than this community for any other commercial purpose, in connection with products or services that are not those of AHA, in any other manner that is likely to cause confusion among consumers, that disparages or discredits AHA and/or its licensors, that dilutes the strength of the AHA’s or its licensor's property, or that otherwise infringes the AHA’s or its licensors’ intellectual property rights. You further agree to in no other way misuse any AHA Content or third-party content that appears within the community.

If you are a trademark or copyright owner and you believe that your trademark or copyright rights have been violated, please contact us.

Your Account

You are solely responsible for the activity that occurs on your community account. You must keep your user account, username, and password secure. You must notify the AHA immediately of any breach of security or unauthorized use of your account. You further agree not to email, post, or otherwise disseminate any user ID, password, or other information which provides you access to the community. The AHA is not liable for any loss that you may incur as a result of someone else using your password or account, either with or without your knowledge. The AHA shall not be responsible for any losses arising out of the loss or theft of user information transmitted from or stored on a computer or device or from unauthorized or fraudulent transactions associated with the community.

You understand that you have no ownership rights in your account or other access to the community or features therein. The AHA may terminate your access to the Site, cancel your account and/or delete all information associated with your account, including any materials you may have submitted to the AHA, at any time, and without notice, for any reason, including if the AHA deems that you have violated these Terms, the law, or for any other reason. The AHA assumes no liability for any information removed from the community, and reserves the right to permanently restrict access to the community or a user account.

Community Content

You agree to comply with each of the Community Rules posted above. Do not post any defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials.  Do not post any information or other material protected by copyright without the permission of the copyright owner. By posting material, the posting party warrants and represents that he or she owns the copyright with respect to such material or has received permission from the copyright owner.

Messages may not be posted if they encourage or facilitate members to arrive at any agreement that either expressly or impliedly leads to price fixing, a boycott of another's business, or other conduct intended to illegally restrict free trade. Messages that encourage or facilitate an agreement about the following subjects are inappropriate: prices, discounts, or terms or conditions of sale; salaries; profits, profit margins, or cost data; market shares, sales territories, or markets; allocation of customers or territories; or selection, rejection, or termination of customers or suppliers.

By displaying, publishing, or otherwise posting any photos, videos, written posts and certain other materials (“Your Data”) on or through the community, you hereby grant to the AHA a non-exclusive, sub-licensable, worldwide, fully-paid, royalty free license to use, modify, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce, and distribute such Your Data in any and all media now known or hereinafter developed without the requirement to make payment to you or to any third party or the need to seek any third-party permission. This license includes the right to host, index, cache, distribute, and tag any Your Data, as well as the right to sublicense Your Data to third parties. You represent and warrant that you own the content submitted, displayed, published or posted by you in the community and otherwise have the right to grant the license set forth herein, and the displaying, publishing or posting of any content you submit, and our use thereof does not and will not violate the privacy rights, publicity rights, copyrights, trademark rights, patents, contract rights or any other intellectual property rights or other rights of any person or entity.

The AHA does not actively monitor the site for inappropriate postings and does not on its own undertake editorial control of postings. However, in the event that any inappropriate posting is brought to the attention of the AHA we will take all appropriate action. You understand and agree that the AHA may cancel your account in the community and delete all Your Data associated with your account at any time, and without notice, if we deem that you have violated these Terms, the law, or for any other reason.  The AHA assumes no liability for any information removed from the community, and reserves the right to permanently restrict access to the community or a user account.

You also agree to indemnify and hold the AHA, its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers, employees, and website contractors and each of their officers, employees and agents harmless from any claims, damages and expenses, including reasonable attorneys' fees and costs, related to your violation of these Terms, or any violations thereof by your dependents or which arises from the use of Your Data you submitted, posted, or otherwise provided to the AHA or this community.

Other Terms

The failure of the AHA to comply with these Terms because of an act of God, war, fire, riot, pandemic, terrorism, earthquake, actions of federal, state or local governmental authorities or for any other reason beyond the reasonable control of the AHA, shall not be deemed a breach of these Terms.

If the AHA fails to act with respect to your breach or anyone else's breach on any occasion, the AHA is not waiving its right to act with respect to future or similar breaches.

If any provision of these Terms shall be unlawful, void or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from these terms of use and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.

These Terms constitute a binding agreement between you and the AHA, and is accepted by you upon your use of the community or your account. These Terms constitute the entire agreement between you and the AHA regarding the use of the community and your account. By using the community you represent that you are capable of entering into a binding agreement, and that you agree to be bound by these Terms.

Privacy Policy

Any personal information you provide to us will be treated according to this Policy, which applies only to the AHA community site on which it appears.

What Personal Information Do We Collect Through This Site:

We may collect the following types of information through the community site:

Contact Information

For example, we may collect your name, mailing address, telephone number and email address. We may also collect your mobile phone number.

Information You Post

We may collect information you post in a public space on the site. This may include photos, videos and other user-generated content that you submit. It also includes any information you send to us through a “Contact Us” page, or a similar feature.

Professional Information

We may collect information about your employer or association affiliation.

Account Information

When you create an account, we will collect your username and password.

Device or Usage Information

When you access the community, we may passively collect information from you. This may include the type of device you use to access our Platform. We may also collect your device identifier, IP address or mobile operating system.

How Do We Use Your Information

We may use the personal information we collect through the community site for the following purposes:

To Provide Our Services.

For example, this includes providing you with resources through the community site and allowing you to post your information for other users’ benefit.

To Improve Our Products and Services

We may use your information to make our services, including the community site, better. We may also use your information to customize your experience with us.

To Respond to Your Requests or Questions

This may include responding to your feedback. It may also include communicating with you about your account or our relationship. We may also contact you about this Policy or the Terms.

For Security Purposes

This could include protecting the AHA, our affiliates, and the community users. It may also include protecting the community site itself.

As Otherwise Permitted By Law or As We May Notify You

With Whom Do We Share the Personal Information We Collect Through This Site:

Our Service Providers
We may share your personal information with companies (including our affiliates) that perform services on our behalf, for example, companies that help process credit card payments. Our service providers are required by contract to protect the confidentiality of the personal information we share with them and to use it only to provide specific services on our behalf.

Business Transfers
Your personal information may be transferred to another entity (either an affiliated entity or an unrelated third party) in connection with a merger, reorganization, dissolution or similar corporate event. If such a transfer were ever to occur, the acquiring entity’s use of your personal information will still be subject to this Privacy Policy.

Government and Legal Disclosures
We may disclose the personal information we collect through this Site, when we, in good faith, believe disclosure is appropriate to comply with the law (or a court order or subpoena); to prevent or investigate a possible crime, such as fraud or identity theft; to enforce our Terms and Conditions or other agreements that govern your use of this Site; or to protect the rights, property or safety of our company, our users, or others.

External Sites
We are not responsible for the content of external internet sites. You are advised to read the privacy policy of external sites before disclosing any personal information.

Cookies
A "cookie" is a small data text file that is placed in your browser and allows us to recognize you each time you visit this site (personalization, etc). Cookies themselves do not contain any personal information, and we do not use cookies to collect personal information. Cookies may also be used by 3rd party content providers such as news-feeds. Some browsers have “do not track” features that allow you to tell a website not to track you. These features are not all uniform. We do not currently respond to those signals.  If you block cookies, certain features on our sites may not work.  If you block or reject cookies, not all of the tracking described here will stop.

Children Under 13

The community site is intended only for adults, and the AHA does not collect any information from children under the age of 13. If you are a parent or guardian and you believe that your child may have provided us with personal information, please contact us and mark your inquiries “COPPA Information Request.” 

Remember The Risks Whenever You Use The Internet
While we do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information that you transmit to us and you are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of any passwords or other account information. In addition, other Internet sites or services that may be accessible through our site have separate data and privacy practices independent of us, and therefore we disclaim any responsibility or liability for their policies or actions. Please contact those vendors and others directly if you have any questions about their privacy policies.  For any other information please contact us.