Code of Conduct

This Agreement (the “Agreement”) governs your access and use of the Massachusetts Medical Society (the “Society”) online service, e-Communities (the “Service”). In consideration for your right to access and use the Service, you and the Society agree as follows:

 

  1. ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS
    By clicking the “I accept” button below, you agree to be bound by the terms of this Agreement and any modifications made to it in accordance with Section 15 below. For example, you understand and agree that the Service is provided “as-is” and that the Society assumes no responsibility or liability for, among other things, (1) any service outages or interruptions, (2) the unavailability of particular communities, features or services, (3) the inability to access the Service, (4) the failure or inability to post materials to the Service, (5) the deletion of materials posted to the Service, or (6) the failure to store materials posted to the Service.
  2. THE SERVICE
    The Service is an online application, enabling individuals to join and participate in customized and personalized discussion groups, document sharing, balloting, blogs, and other features. Some communities are “closed” communities, available only to certain members (e.g., the Board of Trustees, Committees).
  3. REGISTRATION
    To take advantage of the Service’s capabilities, you must be a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, its staff, or an invited guest. To participate in this Service, you agree that you will supply the Society with the information requested in the registration process, ensure that the information supplied is accurate, and update the information as necessary to ensure that it remains accurate. Information supplied in the registration process, as well as other information provided to the Society during your use of the Service is governed by the Society’s web site privacy policy, which can be viewed at www.massmed.org/Privacy-Policy/You are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your login information. This Service is available solely to members, staff and invited guests of the Society; therefore you agree that you will not share your password with anyone. You are responsible for all conduct associated with the use of your account and login information.
  4. CONTENT ACCESSIBLE ON THE SERVICE
    The Service contains a variety of information, data, messages, directions, pictures, audio/visual works, and other materials (the “Content”) that users post. You understand and agree that any Content posted on the Service is the exclusive responsibility of the person who posted or uploaded it, and that you will be solely responsible for any Content that you upload, post, email or otherwise transmit to or via the Service. You acknowledge that the Society is not responsible for, does not control, does not endorse and does not verify the Content posted to the Service or available through the Service, and that it makes no guarantee regarding the reliability, accuracy, legitimacy or quality of any such Content. You agree that you will bear any and all risk of reliance on the accuracy, validity or legitimacy of such Content. Under no circumstances will the Society be liable in any way to you for any Content, including (but not limited to) any errors or omissions in any Content or any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any Content posted or otherwise transmitted to or via the Service.

    You acknowledge that the Society does not pre-screen Content, but agree that the Society shall have the right (but not the obligation) to access any community and remove, modify, or restrict access to any Content on the Service in its sole discretion and without notice or compensation. Without limiting the foregoing, the Society shall have the right to access the Service and remove or restrict access to any Content that violates this Agreement or that the Society believes is otherwise objectionable.

    You acknowledge and agree that the Society may preserve or disclose any Content if it reasonably believes disclosure is required by law or in the good faith belief that such preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary to (a) comply with legal process, (b) enforce this Agreement, (c) respond to claims that any Content violates the rights of third parties, or (d) protect the rights, property, or personal safety of the Society, its members and guests, and the public.
  5. LICENSE GRANTED TO THE SOCIETY
    The Society does not claim any ownership rights in the text, files, images, photos, videos, sounds, musical works, works of authorship, or any other materials that you post to the Service. By displaying of publishing (“posting”) any Content on or through the Service, you hereby grant to the Society a limited license to use, modify, publicly perform, publicly displace, reproduce and distribute such Content solely on and through the Service.

    The license you grant to the Society is non-exclusive (meaning you are free to license your Content to anyone else in addition to the Society), fully-paid and royalty-free (meaning the Society is not required to pay you for the use on the Service of the Content you post), sub-licensable (so that the Society is able to use its affiliates and subcontractors to provide the Services), and worldwide (because the Internet and Services are global in reach). This license does not grant the Society the right to sell your Content, nor does the license grant the Society the right to distribute your Content outside of the Service.
  6. USER CONDUCT
    You agree not to use the Service to:
    1. Violate or solicit the violation of any local, state, national or international law;
    2. Infringe the rights of any third party, including but not limited to intellectual property rights and privacy or publicity rights;
    3. Upload, post, email or otherwise transmit any Content that (1) is unlawful, threatening, abusive, tortious, defamatory, obscene, libelous, or invasive of another’s privacy; (2) consists of instructional information on illegal activities; (3) violates or infringes upon the proprietary rights of others, including without limitation, copyrighted music, photographs, text, videos or artwork; (4) constitutes pornography, or sexual material of an obscene nature or that violates local, state, or national laws; (5) is the private information of another such as their addresses, phone number, Social Security number, or Protected Health Information; (6) constitutes, or encourages, the violation of antitrust laws; or (7) you do not have a right to upload or post due to contractual or other legal obligation;
    4. Use the Service as a promotional tool or for any other commercial purpose.

If you do use the Service to commit any of the above, the Society may, at its sole discretion, terminate your password, account (or any part of it) or ability to use the Service and remove and discard any Content within the Service.

  1. MEMBER DISPUTES
    You are solely responsible for your interactions with other users of the Service. The Society reserves the right, but has no obligation, to monitor disputes between you and other users of the Service.
  2. LIMITATIONS, CONDITIONS AND RULES REGARDING SERVICE
    You agree that the Society may establish, in its sole discretion, any limitations, conditions or rules concerning the use of the Service, including, for example, the maximum number of messages a user may post to the Service in a given day, the number of days that posted messages will be available, or the maximum size of a given post. You acknowledge that the Society has the right to change these general practices and limits at any time, in its sole discretion, with or without notice.
  3. MODIFICATION AND TERMINATION OF SERVICE
    The Society reserves the right at any time and from time to time to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the Service (or any part of it) with or without notice. You agree that the Society will not be liable to you or to any third party for any modification, suspension or discontinuation of the Service.

    You agree that the Society, in its sole discretion, may terminate your password, account (or any part of it) or ability to use the Service, and remove and discard any Content within the Service for any reason or no reason. You agree that termination of your access to the Service may be immediate and without prior notice. You further agree that the Society shall not be liable to you or any third party for any termination of your use or ability to access the Service. Specific reasons for such limitation or termination include, but are not limited to, your reproducing, distributing, republishing or retransmitting material posted by other community members without the prior permission of such members, and other violations of these Terms of Use.
  4. OTHER WEB SITES AND RESOURCES
    Other users of the Service may provide links or access to other web sites and resources. Because the Society has no control over such sites and resources, you acknowledge and agree that the Society is not responsible for the availability of such sites or resources, and does not endorse and is not responsible or liable for any content, advertising, products or other materials on or available from such sites or resources. You further acknowledge and agree that the Society shall not be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with use of or reliance on any such Content, goods or services available through any such site or resource.
  5. NO RESALE, REDISTRIBUTION OR RE-PURPOSING OF CONTENT
    You agree not to reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, resell or exploit for any commercial purposes, any of the Content available through the Service, other than Content as to which you hold the intellectual property rights.
  6. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES

    YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE AND UNDERSTAND THAT:
    1. YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED ON AN ‘AS IS’ AND ‘AS AVAILABLE’ BASIS. THE SOCIETY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.
    2. THE SOCIETY MAKES NO WARRANTY THAT (i) THE SERVICE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS, (ii) THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY,  SECURE OR ERROR-FREE, (iii) THE INFORMATION THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE SERVICE WILL BE ACCURATE OR RELIABLE.
    3. ANY MATERIAL DOWNLOADED OR OTHERWISE OBTAINED THROUGH THE USE OF THE SERVICE IS OBTAINED AND USED AT YOUR SOLE RISK AND DISCRETION AND YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM THE DOWNLOAD OR ANY SUCH MATERIAL.
    4. NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION, WHETHER ORAL OR WRITTEN, OBTAINED BY YOU THROUGH OR FROM THE SERVICE SHALL CREATE ANY WARRANTY BY THE SOCIETY.
  7. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
    YOU EXPRESSLY UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT THE SOCIETY SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, GOODWILL, USE, DATA OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES (EVEN IF THE SOCIETY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES), RESULTING FROM:  (i) THE USE OR THE INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICE; (ii) THE COST OF PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS AND SERVICES RESULTING FROM ANY GOODS, DATA, INFORMATION OR SERVICES PURCHASED OR OBTAINED OR MESSAGES RECEIVED OR TRANSACTIONS ENTERED INTO THROUGH OR FROM THE SERVICE; (iii) UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR ALTERATION OF YOUR TRANSMISSIONS OR DATA; (iv) STATEMENTS OR CONDUCT OF ANY THIRD PARTY ON THE SERVICE; OR (v) ANY OTHER MATTER RELATING TO THE SERVICE.
  8. INDEMNITY
    You agree to indemnify and hold the Society, and its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, agents, employees, and contractors harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of the Content you submit, post to or transmit through the Service, your use of the Service, your connection to the Service, or your violation of the law, this Agreement or the rights or another.
  9. MODIFICATION
    The Society may amend this Agreement at any time by posting the amended terms on our site at http://www.massmed.org. All amendments shall automatically be effective immediately upon posting on our site. You use of the Service following the effective date of any modifications shall constitute your binding acceptance of those modifications.

 

Community Guidelines

Disclaimer: 

The Massachusetts Medical Society (the Society) is not responsible for content posted by you or another user. The Society specifically disclaims all liability for claims or damages that may result from any posting or other use of this service. The Society reserves the right to remove any materials that are posted to or published via this site. The Society accepts no responsibility for the opinions or information posted on this community. In no event shall the Society be liable for any special, indirect or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from your, or another user’s, use of this service, including damages 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.

Guidelines and Reminders

  1. Only subscribed users can post messages. You are responsible for all content posted from your account;
  2. Your profile is accessible to other community participants;
  3. Treat other users with respect. Remember that emotions are difficult to convey online, and give others the benefit of the doubt. Do not assume that your exchanges are—or will remain—confidential; some communities will contain more, or new, participants over time; if you post something about a person, they may see it eventually.
  4. The purpose of these communities is to encourage the exchange of ideas. Advertising is prohibited. The Society acknowledges that there are times when the idea itself requires that a product be mentioned, critiqued or evaluation, and that there are also times when the recommendation of a product, vendor, or service is the answer to a posted problem. Such postings are not prohibited.
  5. By posting something, you represent that you either hold the copyright to the material or have the permission of the copyright holder to post it. You also grant to the Society certain rights to the material necessary for the Society to provide the Service (see Terms of Use for detailed explanation).
  6. The Society disclaims responsibility for any links or references to any products, services or other information provided on the site. Further, the Society makes no representation as to the accuracy, reliability, or content of other sites or of any products or services referenced in the community or in a linked site.
  7. You must comply with antitrust laws. Do not discuss, or exchange information regarding: 

(a)      your reimbursement rates or any other data that might bear on the price you are paid for your services;

(b)      raising, lowering, or ‘stabilizing’ your fees;

(c)      what constitutes a fair profit level or margin level;

(d)      the allocation of markets, territories, or patients;

For example, any agreement to ‘honor,’ ‘protect,’ or ‘avoid invading’ one another’s geographic areas, practice specialties, or patient lists would violate the law

(e)      whether other physicians should or should not deal with certain persons or entities

For example, any agreement among physicians not employed by the hospital not to cover call unless paid to do so, any agreement among non-employed physicians to strike or not to accept certain tasks, or any agreement not to contract with a specific payor, would violate the law.