Community Rules & Etiquette and Privacy Guidelines

Thank you for being part of the Learning Rheum Preceptor community. To ensure the best possible experience for all members of the online community, we have established some guidelines and policies for participation.

By joining and using this community, you agree that you have read and will follow these rules. Questions for AAPA should be directed to our Education team via the Contact Us link on this site.

Please take a moment to review these important rules. In order to preserve a climate that encourages both civil and fruitful dialogue, we reserve the right to remove content that violates the following guidelines, and suspend or terminate membership in this community for anyone who violates these rules. Review the full Violation Policy here.

Participation Rules

• Post messages, blogs and documents with full transparency using accurate personal contact information. Anonymous posts are prohibited. You may not attempt to impersonate any other party or disguise the source of any information you post.
• All content should be focused on connecting PA students and Preceptor sites. 
• Don’t post anything that you would not want the world to see or that you would not want anyone to know came from you. All defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal posts and materials are strictly prohibited. Content must not defame, libel, ridicule, mock, disparage, threaten, harass, intimidate, abuse, bully, trick, defraud, mislead, or promote violence towards other.
• You must treat others with respect and not make any offensive comments that are connected to race, religion, social class, ethnicity, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation or disability, or use profanity (including implied profanity) or any obscene, indecent, pornographic, sexual or otherwise objectionable language.
• Maintain a professional tone and choose your words carefully. Any language or word choice that would be inappropriate in a professional setting is not permitted.
• Don’t post commercial messages on any discussion, resource or library entry, blog post, profile signature, private messages or other area where others might see it.  The promotion of products and services, and the posting of job openings are prohibited.
  
• Respect patient privacy.  Don’t post any patient personal health information or images without appropriate permissions and ensuring that you are in compliance with HIPAA regulations.
  
• Please note carefully all items listed in the Terms of Use, Disclaimers, Copyright Notice and Privacy Policy sections below, particularly regarding the copyright ownership of information posted. Do not post copyrighted information without express permission.
• AAPA is committed to equal employment opportunity and a diverse, inclusive work environment, and respects workers’ rights to discuss working conditions, wages, union-related topics or all activities protected by the National Labor Relations Act.
• Don’t use the community, including individual member profiles in the Member Directory, for mass communications. Use of member profile information for marketing purposes is strictly prohibited.
• AAPA reserves the right to reject any message for any reason.

TERMS OF USE

 This AAPA Learning Rheum (Site) is provided as a service for members of the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) to create a professional online forum (Services). AAPA is not responsible for the opinions and information posted on the Site by others. 

Disclaimers

THE SITE AND SERVICES ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “WITH ALL FAULTS” AND THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE SITE AND SERVICES IS WITH YOU.  AAPA HEREBY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE SITE AND SERVICES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT, OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR USE OR PURPOSE. AAPA DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE SITE OR SERVICES WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS IN ANY RESPECT, OR BE AVAILABLE AT ALL TIMES, OR BE COMPATABLE WITH YOUR EQUIPMENT OR THAT THE OPERATION OF THE SITE OR SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, OR THAT ERRORS IN THE SITE OR SERVICES CAN OR WILL BE CORRECTED.  YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SECTION ARE A MATERIAL INDUCEMENT AND CONSIDERATION TO AAPA TO GRANT YOU ACCESS TO THE SITE.

TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL AAPA OR ITS SUPPLIERS OR LICENSORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTIONS, LOSS OF BUSINESS INFORMATION, OR OTHER PECUNIARY LOSS) ARISING OUT OF THIS SITE, YOUR USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SITE OR SERVICES, OR YOUR USE OF OR RELIANCE ON ANY DATA YOU MAY ACCESS IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF THE SITE OR SERVICES, EVEN IF AAPA OR ITS SUPPLIERS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties or the limitation or exclusion of liability for incidental or consequential damages. Accordingly, some of the above limitations and disclaimers may not apply to you. To the extent that AAPA may not, as a matter of applicable law, disclaim any implied warranty or limit its liabilities, the scope and duration of such warranty and the extent of AAPA’s liability will be equal to the amount the user paid for the Site or the minimum permitted under such applicable law.

By using the Site, you agree to not post any defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials, or materials protected by copyright without the permission of the copyright owner. By using the Site you agree to not post messages, blogs, documents or any information that encourages or facilitates an agreement or understanding regarding prices, production, allocation of markets, or any other matter that is competitively sensitive. Such prohibited messages include, but are not limited to:

• Discussions about current or future billing rates, fees, wages or wage level, salaries, bonuses, compensation, or other items related to these topics; 
• Discussions about current billing or fee procedures;
• Discussions about standardizing or stabilizing rates, fees, wages, salaries, or compensation;
• Discussions about the billing rates, fees, or wages of a competitor;
• Discussions refusing to deal with anyone because of their prices or fees or because he or she is a non-member;
• Surveys, or postings about conducting surveys, relating to current or future billing rates, fees, wages, compensation, or other economic matters;
• Any other material nonpublic information or confidential information from your employer.

AAPA reserves the right to terminate access to any member or user who does not abide by the Terms of Use.

From time to time, AAPA may make changes to the Community Rules, Terms of Use and Privacy Policy by updating this posting on the Site. At such time, we will specify the effective day of the new version and make any changes known. Your continued use of the Site following the posting of a new version constitutes your acceptance of the new Community Rules, Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Posts and Suggestions  

The Site may provide functionality through which you are able to upload information (such as personal or other data, text and images) in connection with your use of the Site (collectively, “Posts”).  If you use such functionality, you grant to AAPA and AAPA’s affiliates, representatives and assigns an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, fully-paid, world-wide, license (sublicensable through multiple tiers) to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, publicly perform and publicly display your Posts (in whole or in part) in any format or medium now known or later developed both on and outside of the Site.  You may also elect to provide or make available to AAPA any suggestions, comments, ideas, improvements or other feedback or materials related to the Site or Services (collectively, “Suggestions”).  

Any Posts, Suggestions or other communication or other material that you send to us through the Site is and will be deemed to be non-confidential, and AAPA shall have no obligation of any kind with respect to such information. AAPA will be free to use, disclose, reproduce, modify, license, transfer and otherwise distribute Posts and Suggestions in any manner, and you will gain no right, title or interest in or to the Site or Services by virtue of AAPA doing so. AAPA shall be free to use any ideas, concepts, know-how or techniques contained in such communication for any purpose whatsoever, including but not limited to, developing, manufacturing and marketing products. AAPA reserves the right to display or insert advertisements in connection with Posts and Suggestions and to use Posts and Suggestions for marketing, advertising and promotional purposes.  

You agree that you are solely responsible for all of your Posts and Suggestions. AAPA is not required to host, display or distribute any Posts or Suggestions, and may remove at any time or refuse any Posts or Suggestions for any reason. AAPA is not responsible for any loss, theft or damage of any kind to any Posts or Suggestions. You represent and warrant that: (a) you own all rights in your Posts and Suggestions or, alternatively, you have acquired all necessary rights in your Posts and Suggestions to enable you to grant to AAPA all of the rights described herein; and (b) your Posts and Suggestions do not infringe the intellectual property rights, medical confidentiality, privacy, or any other legal or moral rights of any third party. 

You are prohibited from posting Posts, offering Suggestions, or otherwise using the Site to transmit any unlawful, threatening, libelous, defamatory, obscene, inflammatory, pornographic or profane material or any material that could constitute or encourage conduct that would be considered a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or would otherwise violate the law or a copyright trademark or other intellectual property right of another.  AAPA reserves the right to cooperate with any law enforcement authorities or court order requesting or directing AAPA to disclose the identity of anyone posting information or materials.  AAPA may, from time to time, monitor, review, block or remove the discussions, chats, postings, transmissions, bulletin boards and the like; however AAPA is under no obligation to do so and assumes no responsibility or liability arising from such content nor for any error, inappropriateness, defamation, libel, slander, omission, falsehood, obscenity, pornography, profanity, danger or inaccuracy contained in any Posts or Suggestions.

You may not upload, post, or otherwise transmit any malware, spyware, virus, worms, spider, Trojan horses, bots or any material that acts as a passive or active information collection or transmission mechanism or anything destructive or harmful.

Monitoring Disclaimers

The Site is subject to monitoring, review, alteration, or removal at AAPA’s sole discretion. AAPA reserves the right, but is not under an obligation, to take appropriate action with respect to inappropriate postings. Such action can include prescreening, editing, refusal to accept, removal or moving content. While AAPA retains the right to supervise the Site, it is under no obligation to do so and assumes no responsibility or liability arising from the Site. AAPA can review all data and all messages in the Learning Rheum Community, and you should not have any expectation that it will be treated as private.

AAPA is providing information and services on the Site as a benefit and service in support of AAPA’s nonprofit and tax-exempt status. AAPA makes no representation about the suitability of this information and these services. Reliance on any information contained on the Site is solely at your own risk. 
Any health information is strictly for informational purposes only. No information on this site should be used for diagnosing a health or fitness problem or disease. AAPA does not engage in the practice of medicine.

Copyright Notice

All information posted on the Site is subject to copyrights owned by AAPA and other individuals or entities. Any reproduction, retransmission or republication of all or part of any document or discussion found on the Site is expressly prohibited unless AAPA or the copyright owner of the material has expressly granted written consent to do so. All other rights are reserved. 
The names, trademarks, service marks and logos of AAPA appearing on the Site may not be used in any advertising or publicity, or otherwise to indicate AAPA’s sponsorship or affiliation with any product or service, without AAPA’s prior express written permission.

Unless otherwise specified in writing on the Site, all materials that are part of the Site (past, present and future versions), including, without limitation: graphics; layout; text; images; audio and/or video; designs; advertising copy; logos; domain names; trade names and marks; service marks and trade identities; any and all copyrightable material (including source and object code); the “look and feel” of the Site; the compilation, assembly and arrangement of the materials of the Site; and all other materials related to the Site (collectively, the “Site Materials”) are owned, controlled or licensed by AAPA and are protected from unauthorized use, copying and dissemination by copyright, trademark, patent, publicity and other laws, rules, regulations and international treaties. The entire contents of the Site (including the Site Materials) are copyrighted as a collective work under the United States copyright laws and/or similar laws of other jurisdictions. AAPA owns a copyright in the selection, coordination, arrangement and enhancement of such content, as well as in the content original to AAPA. Third-party content providers may own a copyright in content that is original to them.  All rights of AAPA are reserved.  All other trademarks and service marks appearing on the Site are the property of their respective owners, including, in some instances, AAPA. You may not display Site Materials in frames or “in-line links” without express written permission from AAPA.

You agree not to encumber, license, modify, publish, copy, sell, transfer, transmit or in any way exploit, any of the Site Materials (other than your own Posts), or to attempt to do so. You agree not to copy, redistribute, publish or otherwise exploit material that you download from the Site, except as expressly permitted within these Terms, without the express prior written permission of AAPA and the owner of such Site Materials (from whom you are solely responsible for obtaining permission). You further agree and acknowledge that you shall not acquire any ownership rights by downloading material from the Site. 

You agree that you will not assert any interest in your Posts against AAPA and that AAPA has no obligation to maintain or return your Posts.  You should also be aware that submissions of Posts may not be secure, and you should consider this before submitting any information to The Site.  
You authorize AAPA to publish your Posts in a searchable format that may be accessed by users of the Site and the Internet.  Except as prohibited by applicable law, you waive any rights of attribution and/or any so-called “moral rights” you may have in any Posts you submit, even if such Post is altered or changed in a manner not agreeable to you, to the greatest extent allowed by applicable law.

Further Restrictions on Use of the Site

Use of the Site must be consistent with the AAPA Community Rules, which are incorporated by this reference into these terms of use.  All members listed in the Member Directory have opted to have their personal information available to other AAPA members but have not consented to the use of their emails for solicitation, spam, or for the commercial purposes of any entity over than those of the AAPA. Without the express written permission of the AAPA, the contents of the Member Directory may not, in whole or in part, be reproduced; copied; disseminated; entered into a computer database; used as part of or in connection with the preparation, revision or confirmation of a mailing, telephone, fax, email, or other marketing list; or otherwise utilized, in any form or manner or by any means, except for the user's individual, personal reference. Wrongful use of member email (especially for the purpose of solicitation/spam) may result in membership termination and/or legal action.

AAPA members have a limited, revocable, non-sublicensable license to print or download Site Materials for your personal, noncommercial use, including noncommercial use by members of the AAPA, provided that such use is for AAPA purposes as defined by the AAPA Community Rules, and provided that the amount and substantiality of the Site Materials so used is minimal in relation to the similar Site Materials on the Site and that its use has no more than a minimal economic effect on the potential market for or value of the Site Materials.
In no event may information about AAPA members, including but not limited to addresses, telephone numbers or email addresses, be copied, collected, compiled, scraped, linked, or otherwise taken from the Site and used for commercial purposes without prior written permission from the AAPA. Likewise, in no event may you, without the express prior written consent of the AAPA,

• Copy, distribute, or download any Site Materials for any other purpose,
• Modify any Site Materials for any reason inconsistent with the Community Rules,
• Include any Site Materials in another Web site or other work, except as allowed by 17 U.S.C. § 107, or
• Frame any Site Materials on another web site.

DMCA Notice

If you believe that your intellectual property rights have been violated by something on our 
Site or Services, please contact AAPA at kculverwell@aapa.org, 2318 Mill Road, Suite 1300, Alexandria, VA 22314, 703-836-2272, and provide the following information:

• A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed;
• Identification of or a representative list of the work you believe has been infringed;
• Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit AAPA to locate the material;
• Information reasonably sufficient to permit the AAPA to contact you;
• A statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
• A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

HIPAA and Confidentiality Notice

You agree not to post any information about any identified or identifiable patients.  

Should you submit personal information, including personal health information, regarding a patient or other third party, you are responsible for ensuring that such third parties have been informed of and have given their consent, to the extent required by law, to the disclosure of their personal information.  
Never disclose any material nonpublic information about your company or any other confidential information that is, or potentially is, proprietary, confidential, privileged or sensitive. Posting should not risk noncompliance with laws respecting the security and confidentiality of such protected information.  If you have signed a confidentiality agreement, abide by its terms.

Privacy Policy

Any personal information you provide to us, including and similar to your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address, will not be released, sold, or rented to any entities or individuals outside of our organization except as noted below.

We may share your personal information with companies (including our affiliates and partners) 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. 

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. 

We may disclose the personal information we collect through the 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 the Site; or to protect the rights, property or safety of our company, our users or others.

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.

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 third party content providers such as newsfeeds. The Site does not respond to “do not track” and similar signals from browsers.

We do not collect personal data from any person we know to be under the age of 13.  

Your California Privacy Rights. Under California Civil Code Section 1798.83, Californians are entitled to request information relating to whether a business has disclosed personal data to any third parties for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes. Californians who wish to request further information about our compliance with this statute or who have questions more generally about our Privacy Policy and our privacy commitments to our customers and Site users should not hesitate to contact AAPA at kculverwell@aapa.org, 2318 Mill Road, Suite 1300, Alexandria, VA 22314, 703-836-2272.  

The Site is designed for use by individuals in the United States. Users from other countries are advised not to disclose personal information unless they consent to having their information transferred to the United States under the protections afforded by United States law, which the European Union has deemed not to provide adequate data protection. You should not share any personal information or otherwise use our Site unless you agree to be bound by this Privacy Policy and applicable United States law.  You may not use this Site if it is illegal to do so in your home jurisdiction.

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.  

If you have any questions, concerns or disputes about personal data or for any other information please contact us using the Contact Us page. 

Updated 5/28/2019