QuPS.org Terms of Use

Welcome to QuPS.org!

QuPS.org is an Internet system that provides access to information to all people with access to the Internet to help them take effective action to improve health care. It will be helpful to people in many different roles in the health care system – including (but not limited to) physicians, nurses, other clinicians, managers, executives, policy-makers, educators, and interested members of the lay public.

QuPS.org is owned and operated by QuPS.org, LLC, a limited liability corporation. By using the QuPS.org website, you agree to the following Terms of Use, which constitute an agreement between QuPS.org, LLC and you. If you do not agree to these Terms of Use, do not use QuPS.org. When we refer to ourselves as "we," "us," "our," and similar terms we mean QuPS.org, LLC. You will always be able to view the most current version by clicking on a link at the bottom of any page on our site.

Scope of These Terms

These Terms of Use apply to your use of the QuPS.org website. We may have other websites that may be covered by different Terms of Use. The Terms of Use for each of our websites are available on those sites. When you leave one of our websites and go to another website (whether controlled by us or by a third party), different terms may apply.

Information on QuPS.org

QuPS.org is a resource presented for the sole purpose of helping health Consumers, health policy researchers, and health care professionals improve decisions in healthcare related to Quality and Patient Safety. We include a lot of information and links to information on QuPS.org, including articles, references, tools, databases, and advertising. While we hope you find the information helpful, if you are a health care professional you should remember that the content on QuPS.org is not meant to serve as a substitute for your own clinical judgment. If you are a consumer who chooses to use the information on QuPS.org, you should not rely on that information as professional medical advice or use it to replace any relationship with your physician or other qualified health care professional. For medical concerns, including decisions about medications and other treatments, consumers should always consult their physician or, in serious cases, seek immediate assistance from emergency personnel. Individuals with any type of medical condition are specifically cautioned to seek professional medical advice before beginning any sort of health treatment. CONSUMERS WHO RELY ON INFORMATION ON QuPS.org DO SO AT THEIR OWN RISK.

We follow a standard set of editorial procedures for information that we put on QuPS.org. However, we do not offer you any warranty or guarantee related to QuPS.org. WE SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTIES; EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. WE DO NOT WARRANT OR GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, CORRECTNESS, TIMELINESS OR USEFULNESS OF ANY INFORMATION PRODUCTS, SERVICES, MERCHANDISE OR OTHER MATERIAL PROVIDED THROUGH QuPS.org OR IN THE INTERNET GENERALLY. WE MAKE NO WARRANTY OR GUARANTEE THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE OR ERROR FREE. IN NO EVENT WILL WE BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANYONE ELSE FOR ANY DECISION MADE OR ACTION TAKEN BY YOU OR ANYONE ELSE IN RELIANCE UPON THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN OR PROVIDED THROUGH QuPS.org.

It is your responsibility to evaluate the information and results from tools we provide. If you are a health care professional, you should exercise your professional judgment in evaluating any information, and we encourage you to confirm the information contained on our website with other sources before undertaking any treatment or action based on it. If you are a consumer, you should evaluate the information together with your physician or another qualified health care professional.

Some information on QuPS.org comes from you or from other users. We are not responsible for that information. Whether the information comes from us or from you, WE ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES RESULTING FROM YOUR USE OF THE INFORMATION ON QuPS.org. IN NO EVENT SHALL OUR LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF YOUR USE OF QuPS.org, HOWEVER ARISING, EXCEED ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS ($1,000), REGARDLESS OF WHETHER WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE AND NOTWITHSTANDING THE FAILURE OF THE ESSENTIAL PURPOSE OF ANY REMEDY YOU OR ANYONE MAY HAVE.

You understand and agree that we cannot and do not operate, control, supply, endorse, warrant or guarantee any information, products, services or merchandise available on QuPS.org or through the Internet, in general, in any way. You also understand and agree that we cannot and do not warrant or guarantee that files available for downloading through the website will be free of infections or viruses, worms, Trojan horses or other code that contains contaminating or destructive properties. You understand and agree that you are solely responsible for implementing sufficient precautions, procedures and checkpoints to satisfy your own requirements for the accuracy of data input and output, and for maintaining a means external to QuPS.org for the reconstruction of any lost data. We do not assume the responsibility for the loss of any information, data, or other materials resulting from your use of QuPS.org.

Although we are selective about the organizations we link to, WE DO NOT ASSUME ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY WEBSITES THAT ARE LINKED TO OUR SITE OR THAT YOU BROWSE TO AFTER FOLLOWING A LINK FROM QuPS.org.

While we welcome your feedback on QuPS.org, we must make the final decisions about the content that is posted on the site to make sure it meets the needs of all our users. You can use the feedback link on our site to send us comments and criticisms, but IF YOU ARE DISSATISFIED WITH OUR RESPONSE OR WITH THE CONTENTS OF QuPS.org, YOUR ONLY REMEDY IS TO STOP USING THE WEBSITE.

Copyright

©QuPS.org, LLC owns the information on QuPS.org. In fact, the entire contents and design of QuPS.org are protected under U.S. and international copyright laws. You may look at QuPS.org online, download individual articles, print or email pages of content and download tools to your personal or handheld computer for later reading or use, and even print a reasonable number of copies of pages for yourself or your colleagues. You must not remove any copyright notices from our materials. We reserve all our other rights. Among other things, this means you must not sell our information, rewrite or modify it, redistribute it, put it on your own website, or use it for any commercial purpose without our prior written permission.

Trademarks

We or our partners also own the names we use for our products and services on QuPS.org, and these names are protected by trademark laws in the U.S. and internationally. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. If your activities are noncommercial, you may make use of our trademarks by linking to us or discussing us with others, as long as you make it clear that we are the owner of the trademark. Any other uses of our trademarks require our prior written approval.

You may not use our trademarks in any of the following ways:

• In a non-QuPS.org, LLC product name or publication title.
• Within or as part of your own trademarks.
• To identify non-QuPS.org, LLC products or services.
• In a manner which will likely cause confusion.
• In a manner that implies that the QuPS.org, LLC sponsors, endorses or is otherwise connected with your activities, products, or services.
• In a manner that disparages the QuPS.org, LLC.

Linking to Us

Usually, we do not mind if you have a simple link or deep-link from your website to QuPS.org. However, you must not frame our site or incorporate pieces of it into a different site or product. You are not allowed to link to QuPS.org if you create or post illegal, obscene, or offensive content, or if the link in any way has a negative impact on our reputation.

Information that You Put on QuPS.org

Unless we tell you that something will be treated confidentially, when you provide materials or information to QuPS.org, you are giving us an irrevocable, perpetual license to use that information. For example, we have the right to display a comment that you post in one of our discussion groups for as long as we want. We will consider requests to remove information that you make publicly available on QuPS.org on an individual basis.

For information and materials you place on QuPS.org that is not publicly available, please see our Privacy Statement for an explanation of how we use that information and your rights to change or delete it.

You may not post any messages, links or code that would be misleading, false, vulgar, inappropriate, or harmful. We reserve the right to remove any such content at any time without your consent.

Advertising and Sponsorship Policy

The QuPS.org, LLC accepts advertising on and sponsorship of QuPS.org. We do not endorse any company, product or service. In addition, advertisers and sponsors may not suggest that either the QuPS.org, LLC or QuPS.org endorses a product, service or company.

Copyright Agent

The QuPS.org, LLC respects the rights of all copyright holders and has adopted and implemented a policy that provides for the termination in appropriate circumstances of users who post materials on QuPS.org that infringe the rights of copyright holders. If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please provide our Copyright Agent the following information required by the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 512:

• 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 the copyright work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at that site;
• 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 us to locate the material;
• Information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact the complaining party;
• A statement that the complaining party has 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; and
• A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

To contact our Copyright Agent for notice of claims of copyright infringement on or regarding QuPS.org: Customer Service (info@QuPS.org) at QuPS.org, LLC, 23406 99th Place W., Edmonds, WA 98020, USA.

Laws that Govern This Agreement

The QuPS.org, LLC controls QuPS.org from its offices within the State of Washington in the United States of America. QuPS.org can be accessed from any of the United States and from other countries worldwide. Since the laws of each state or country able to access QuPS.org may differ, by accessing QuPS.org both you and the QuPS.org, LLC agree that the statutes and laws of the State of Washington will apply to all matters relating to use of QuPS.org. Both you and the QuPS.org, LLC submit to jurisdiction in Washington and further agree that any cause of action arising under these Terms of Use shall be brought exclusively in any state or federal court located in Seattle, Washington.

The QuPS.org, LLC makes no representation that materials on QuPS.org are appropriate or available for use in other locations, and accessing them from territories where their contents are illegal is prohibited. Those who choose to access QuPS.org from other locations do so on their own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local laws.

Acceptance Procedure

By accessing information on or registering with the website, you agree with all the terms and conditions of this agreement.

We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change the terms and conditions of this agreement from time to time, and your continuing use of QuPS.org constitutes your acceptance of and agreement to any changed terms and conditions. We will post any such changes in a timely manner, and draw your attention to any significant changes.

Privacy Statement

We pay special attention to privacy issues. You should exercise caution when deciding to disclose any sensitive information on QuPS.org. Never give out personal information like your name, address, phone number or social security number. Never identify a patient, or give out patient-specific data on QuPS.org. Never give out information about an organization, a patient or another person if you do not have the express authority or permission to share that information publicly. Never submit content to QuPS.org if you do not have the express authority or permission to share that information publicly.

The purpose of our Privacy Statement is to identify the information we may collect about you, describe the uses we may make of your information and the security measures we take to protect it, and discuss your options for controlling your information. You can review our Privacy Statement for QuPS.org.

Consequences

If you do not comply with these terms, we have the right to block your access, suspend or eliminate your registration and remove any information you have placed on our site. We may also take any legal action if, in our sole discretion, we think it is appropriate. If your violation of this Agreement causes harm to others, you agree to hold the QuPS.org, LLC harmless against any liability for that harm.

General

If any provision of these Terms of Use is held to be invalid or unenforceable, such provision shall be struck and the remaining provisions shall be enforced. Headings are for reference purposes only and in no way define, limit, construe or describe the scope or extent of such section. Our failure to act with respect to a breach by you or others does not waive our right to act with respect to subsequent or similar breaches. These Terms of Use set forth the entire understanding and agreement between you and the QuPS.org, LLC with respect to your use of QuPS.org.

Questions or Concerns about Our Terms of Use

For questions or concerns about these Terms of Use, please send an email to info@QuPS.org.