DoctorConnect Terms of Service
1. Terms
By accessing this web site, you are agreeing to be bound by these web site Terms and Conditions of Use, all applicable laws and regulations, and agree that you are responsible for compliance with any applicable local laws. If you do not agree with any of these terms, you are prohibited from using or accessing this site. The materials contained in this web site are protected by applicable copyright and trade mark law.
2. Use License
- Permission is granted to temporarily download one copy of the materials (information or software) on Adtel International’s web site for personal, non-commercial transitory viewing only. This is the grant of a license, not a transfer of title, and under this license you may not:
- modify or copy the materials;
- use the materials for any commercial purpose, or for any public display (commercial or non-commercial);
- attempt to decompile or reverse engineer any software contained on Adtel International’s web site;
- remove any copyright or other proprietary notations from the materials; or
- transfer the materials to another person or “mirror” the materials on any other server.
- This license shall automatically terminate if you violate any of these restrictions and may be terminated by Adtel International at any time. Upon terminating your viewing of these materials or upon the termination of this license, you must destroy any downloaded materials in your possession whether in electronic or printed format.
3. Disclaimer
- The materials on Adtel International’s web site are provided “as is”. Adtel International makes no warranties, expressed or implied, and hereby disclaims and negates all other warranties, including without limitation, implied warranties or conditions of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement of intellectual property or other violation of rights. Further, Adtel International does not warrant or make any representations concerning the accuracy, likely results, or reliability of the use of the materials on its Internet web site or otherwise relating to such materials or on any sites linked to this site.
4. Limitations
In no event shall Adtel International or its suppliers be liable for any damages (including, without limitation, damages for loss of data or profit, or due to business interruption,) arising out of the use or inability to use the materials on Adtel International’s Internet site, even if Adtel International or a Adtel International authorized representative has been notified orally or in writing of the possibility of such damage. Because some jurisdictions do not allow limitations on implied warranties, or limitations of liability for consequential or incidental damages, these limitations may not apply to you.
5. Revisions and Errata
The materials appearing on Adtel International’s web site could include technical, typographical, or photographic errors. Adtel International does not warrant that any of the materials on its web site are accurate, complete, or current. Adtel International may make changes to the materials contained on its web site at any time without notice. Adtel International does not, however, make any commitment to update the materials.
6. Links
Adtel International has not reviewed all of the sites linked to its Internet web site and is not responsible for the contents of any such linked site. The inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement by Adtel International of the site. Use of any such linked web site is at the user’s own risk.
7. Site Terms of Use Modifications
Adtel International may revise these terms of use for its web site at any time without notice. By using this web site you are agreeing to be bound by the then current version of these Terms and Conditions of Use.
8. Governing Law
Any claim relating to Adtel International’s web site shall be governed by the laws of the State of Texas without regard to its conflict of law provisions.
General Terms and Conditions applicable to Use of a Web Site.
You can sign up for a free trial of Appointment Reminder under any of our HIPAA-compatible plans, or contact us for more information. We’ll send you our stock BAA for your signature. As soon as the ink is dry on a business associates agreement, you can begin putting patient information in our systems in a HIPAA-compatible manner.
You’re still responsible for using the system in a manner which is respecting of patient privacy. If you wish advice on that, we’re happy to provide it.
Appointment Reminder has never had a data breach which required reporting under HIPAA or our BAAs with medical customers. Additionally, to the best of our knowledge, we have never had a data breach of any kind.
We take security extraordinarily seriously. Appointment Reminder is used daily by some of America’s top hospitals, whose HIPAA-compliance officials personally approved of our systems. We also carry a multi-million dollar policy through US Liability Insurance Company, which they wrote after being satisfied that our systems were secure.
We invest heavily in training, security technology, and employing experts in dealing with patient health information.
Yes. Health and Human Services has approved of both the traditional postcard reminders and phone/email/text message reminders, as an integral part of patient care. You should receive prior authorization to send reminders (including it in your standard HIPAA documentation is a good idea) and you should obey reasonable requests from particular patients about their reminders, such as sending them in a form which is convenient to the patient (e.g. to their home email address rather than to their work email address, if requested, or to their cell phone instead of their home phone, if requested.)
Appointment Reminder gives you full control on a per-patient basis over where and how reminders are sent.
A business associate is a person or company which a medical provider contracts with to provide services. In the ordinary course of doing business, they’ll be exposed to private medical information. Medical providers are obligated by HIPAA to secure “Business Associates Agreements”, commonly referred to as BAAs, with their business associates. These agreements establish auditable chain-of-custody for patient information and obligate the business associates to treat the data under HIPAA standards while it is in their care.
Appointment Reminder will sign a BAA with customers on our HIPAA-compatible plans. We have standard language modeled off of Health and Human Services’ approved language, or we will sign your standard BAA if it is reasonable. Appointment Reminder takes its obligations as a business associate very seriously.
You should minimize the private health information in all appointment reminders, particularly with regards to health information which is especially sensitive. For example, rather than saying that a reminder is from “Gynecology Associates”, you should say that it is from “Dr. Smith.” Consider not including the name of your patient in reminders, if this makes sense for your patient population.
Do not include information about diagnoses or treatment plans in reminders. While Appointment Reminder is very accurate with regards to getting messages to the specified numbers/addresses, it is nonetheless possible that unauthorized parties will be able to view/hear your reminder. For example, work voicemail systems may be accessible by other employees, mobile phones may be lost or stolen, or email may be intercepted. If you wouldn’t be comfortable broadcasting the message on the loudspeaker at Macy’s, give the patient the minimum information required to jog their memory. You can tell them the detailed information in person.
HIPAA obligates people in possession of patient health information to a few dozen technical requirements, described in the Security rule, Privacy rule, and related rulemaking. A sampling of these requirements include requiring per-user accounts, complex passwords, encryption of data in transit and at rest, formal risk assessments of computer systems, and the like.
Appointment Reminder has complied with all requirements of the HIPAA Privacy and Security rules. We’re happy to discuss them with you. Certain details of our compliance strategy may require a NDA to disclose to you — for example, detailed information about our technical infrastructure.
