BACKGROUND
ICARE Buddy is a patient portal developed by ICARE Pro Services LLC. ("Partners"). It is intended to help you better access your physician's office and staff, as well as to provide general educational information and learn about research opportunities and other Partners programs and initiatives. To obtain access to ICARE Buddy you must agree to be bound by these Terms of Use. By clicking the "I Agree" button below, you are indicating that you agree to be bound by all of these terms. Please print and retain a copy of these Terms of Use. Partners may, from time to time, change these Terms of Use. When the terms are changed, Partners will post the updated terms and require you to review and accept the new terms before you continue to use ICARE Buddy. Your continued use of ICARE Buddy after such changes become effective constitutes acceptance of the new terms. If you do not agree to such changed terms, or if at any time you no longer wish to otherwise abide by these Terms of Use, you should not access or use ICARE Buddy. The most current version of these Terms of Use can be accessed at any time by selecting the "ICARE Buddy Terms of Use" link. Certain provisions of these Terms of Use may be superseded by expressly designated legal notices or terms located on particular pages within this site.
YOUR ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORD
ICARE Buddy provides online access to limited health information contained in your electronic medical record. Your entire electronic medical record is not reproduced in ICARE Buddy. Only selected parts of the information are contained in ICARE Buddy such as summary medical history, certain test results, appointments, and a billing account summary.
To the extent that you may have received care and created separate MyChart accounts at locations not affiliated with Partners who use their own instance of MyChart, ICARE Buddy also provides you the ability to access and health information from Partners and these non-Partners organizations through a single MyChart account if you elect to link those separate MyChart accounts. In addition, you may navigate between these linked MyChart accounts from within ICARE Buddy or to ICARE Buddy from another linked MyChart account should you choose to link these separate accounts from within MyChart.
If you decline to link your ICARE Buddy account with a MyChart account that you have established at an organization that is not affiliated with Partners who use their own instance of MyChart, you will need to separately sign in to MyChart at each such non-Partners organization who use their own instance of MyChart to view information contained within that separate MyChart account.
PATIENT GATEWAY ACCESS
Subject to the terms contained herein, Partners hereby grants you a limited license to access ICARE Buddy. You agree that you shall use ICARE Buddy only in accordance with the Terms of Use, applicable law, and the rules, policies and procedures established by Partners for use of ICARE Buddy. This license may not be shared with or transferred or sublicensed to any other party. You agree that you are using and will continue to use appropriate technical safeguards to secure the devices used to access ICARE Buddy, including up-to-date virus protection on PCs, smartphones and tablets. You represent and warrant that all information provided to Partners in connection with this Agreement, including in the process of registration for ICARE Buddy, is true, accurate and complete. You are responsible for installing and maintaining all equipment and systems necessary to access ICARE Buddy and for paying all charges related thereto.
You understand that information you send or receive via ICARE Buddy may be made part of your permanent medical record at the discretion of the clinician.
SECURITY AND PASSWORDS
Access to ICARE Buddy is enabled by usernames and passwords, security questions and answers and additional security measures as may be implemented from time to time by ICARE Buddy. You will choose your username and password when registering for access. You shall maintain your username and password and security questions and answers in strict confidence. In no event shall you share your username or password or security questions and answers with any third party or allow another person to access ICARE Buddy using your username and password or security questions and answers. You shall immediately notify Partners if you have any reason to believe that your username, password or security questions and answers has been lost or compromised or misused in any way. You are fully and solely responsible for any and all use of ICARE Buddy under your username and password.
NON-DISCLOSURE AND CONFIDENTIALITY
In using ICARE Buddy, you will have access to confidential information of Partners and third parties ("Confidential Information") that may include software, codes, technology, logic, techniques, formats, tools, designs, concepts, methods, processes, ideas, functional specifications, technical materials and information, and related documentation.
During the term of this Agreement and thereafter, you agree not to disclose any Confidential Information to any third party except as permitted by this Agreement and by applicable law. Without limiting the foregoing, you agree to undertake all reasonable measures to ensure the privacy and security of all Confidential Information including without limitation: (i) not to access or use any Confidential Information that you have no legitimate authorization to access or use; (ii) not to access ICARE Buddy or any Confidential Information for any other individual or any unauthorized third party. You acknowledge and agree that all obligations relating to Confidential Information under this Agreement will continue after termination of this Agreement and termination of access rights hereunder.
TERM TERMINATION : Partners may terminate this Agreement and/or terminate or suspend your access to the ICARE Buddy at any time and for any reason. Partners has the right to refuse to provide access to ICARE Buddy to any person, agency or organization, or to prohibit any person, agency or organization from using ICARE Buddy, at any time and for any reason. Partners reserves the right to change, suspend, or discontinue all or part of ICARE Buddy, temporarily or permanently, without prior notice. We reserve the right to deactivate any account at any time, for any reason. You acknowledge and agree that ICARE Buddy and the Confidential Information is the property of Partners or its licensors, and are protected by United States and international copyright law, trademark law, and trade secret law, as well as other state, federal and international laws and regulations. Except as expressly provided in this Agreement, Partners does not grant any rights to you under any patents, copyrights, trademarks or trade secret information. Accordingly, unauthorized use of ICARE Buddy or the Confidential Information may violate patent laws, copyright laws, trademark laws, trade secret laws, laws pertaining to privacy and publicity rights or other laws or regulations. The copying, redistribution, use or publication by you of any part of ICARE Buddy or the Confidential Information is strictly prohibited; provided, that you may print, copy electronically, or download information from this site for personal, non-commercial use only, provided you identify the source of the material and include a statement that the materials are protected by copyright law. Partners shall have the right to use and incorporate into ICARE Buddy any feedback and input provided by you, for any purpose, including the improvement of ICARE Buddy and other research, educational and patient care purposes.
THIRD PARTY CONTENT : ICARE Buddy may contain links to third party materials and third party websites for your information and convenience. Partners is not responsible for the availability, accuracy, or content of any of those third party materials or websites nor does it endorse them. Certain information contained within or accessible through ICARE Buddy is provided by third parties. Prior to accessing this information you may be asked to agree to additional terms and conditions provided by such third parties which govern access to and use of those materials.
DISCLAIMERS : ACCESS TO PATIENT GATEWAY AND THE INFORMATION CONTAINED THEREIN IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE PURSUANT TO APPLICABLE LAW, PARTNERS DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF TITLE, MERCHANTIBILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. PARTNERS DOES NOT CONTROL THE DEVICES OR COMPUTERS OR THE INTERNET OVER WHICH YOU MAY CHOOSE TO ENTER CONFIDENTIAL OR PERSONAL INFORMATION AND CANNOT, THEREFORE, PREVENT INTERCEPTIONS OR COMPROMISES TO YOUR INFORMATION WHILE IN TRANSIT TO PARTNERS. PARTNERS MAKES NO GUARANTEE AS TO THE SECURITY, INTEGRITY, OR CONFIDENTIALITY OF ANY INFORMATION TRANSMITTED TO OR FROM PATIENT GATEWAY. FURTHERMORE, CERTAIN TYPES OF PATIENT INFORMATION ARE NOT AND WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE VIA PATIENT GATEWAY. PARTNERS PROVIDES PATIENT GATEWAY AS A HEALTH INFORMATION RESOURCE TO BE ACCESSED AT YOUR CONVENIENCE. YOU SHOULD NOT RELY UPON THE PATIENT GATEWAY SITE IF YOU HAVE IMMEDIATE HEALTH CONCERNS OR QUESTIONS. FOR ALL URGENT MEDICAL MATTERS, CONTACT YOUR CLINICIAN’S OFFICE.
LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY : IN THE EVENT OF ANY PROBLEM WITH ICARE BUDDY OR ANY OF ITS CONTENT, YOU AGREE THAT YOUR SOLE REMEDY IS TO CEASE USING ICARE BUDDY. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL PARTNERS OR ANY PARTNERS AFFILIATE BE LIABLE IN ANY WAY FOR YOUR USE OF ICARE BUDDY OR ANY OF ITS CONTENT, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY ERRORS OR OMISSIONS IN ANY CONTENT, ANY INFRINGEMENT BY ANY CONTENT OF THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS OR OTHER RIGHTS OF THIRD PARTIES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE OF ANY KIND INCURRED AS A RESULT OF THE USE OF ANY CONTENT. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL PARTNERS OR ANY PARTNERS AFFILIATE BE LIABLE FOR ANY PUNITIVE, EXEMPLARY, CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT OR SPECIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY LOST PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF PROGRAMS OR OTHER DATA ON YOUR INFORMATION HANDLING SYSTEM OR OTHERWISE) ARISING FROM OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF PATIENT GATEWAY, WHETHER UNDER A THEORY OF BREACH OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF WE OR THEY HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
RESEARCH AND OTHER PARTNERS PROGRAMS : You may also from time to time receive communications through ICARE Buddy alerting you to general research opportunities and specific research studies and other partners programs and opportunities that may be of interest to you. Research is a key pillar of the Partners mission and is essential to providing our patients with innovative treatments and the best, most compassionate care available. Research-related communications are thoroughly vetted and approved by the relevant hospital committee that reviews all research involving patients, including how patients will be contacted and who may contact patients. NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES AND WEBSITE PRIVACY POLICY Access to and use of ICARE Buddy is also governed by the terms of the Partners Notice of Privacy Practices and Website Privacy Policy, copies of which are accessible via the above link and the terms of which are incorporated by reference in this ICARE Buddy Terms of Use and User Agreement.
MISCELLANEOUS : This Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts without regard to it rules on conflicts or choice of law. You hereby consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the resolution of any dispute based upon or relating to this Agreement. This Agreement constitutes the sole agreement between you and Partners relating to your use and our provision of ICARE Buddy and the subject matter hereof, and no representations, statements or inducements, oral or written, not contained in this Agreement shall bind either you or Partners. Any of the terms of this Agreement which are determined to be invalid or unenforceable shall be ineffective to the extent of such invalidity or unenforceability, without rendering invalid or unenforceable any of the remaining terms of this Agreement or affecting the validity or enforceability of the Agreement as a whole. Failure to insist on performance of any of the terms of the Agreement will not operate as a waiver of any subsequent default. No waiver by Partners of any right under this Agreement will be deemed to be either a waiver of any other right or provision or a waiver of that same right or provision at any other time. You may not assign, transfer or delegate your rights or obligations hereunder, in whole or in part. This Agreement shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of each of the parties and the parties' respective successors and permitted assigns. Except as otherwise specifically provided herein, this Agreement may not be modified, supplemented, qualified, or interpreted except in a writing signed by the parties. A printed version of this Agreement and of any related notice given in electronic form shall be admissible in judicial or administrative proceedings based upon or relating to this Agreement to the same extent and subject to the same conditions as other business documents and records originally generated and maintained in printed form.
ICARE Pro Services LLC. ("Partners") ICARE Buddy Website Privacy PolicyYou will be asked to provide personal information (including certain demographic and contact information, including email addresses) during the ICARE Buddy registration process, when making appointment requests, during the ICARE Buddy login process, or when providing feedback to us about your experiences using ICARE Buddy. The information required is noted on each specific form or registration page. Additional questions might be included to help us improve the services we offer.
HOW WE USE THIS INFORMATION :Partners uses the information you provide to operate ICARE Buddy and provide the ICARE Buddy service to you. In addition, Partners may also use certain personal information, including your email address, to provide communications, information and materials to you related to ICARE Buddy and/or research opportunities or other programs and services available through Partners and certain Partners affiliates, and certain information and surveys, including patient satisfaction surveys relating to your use of services provided by Partners and certain Partners affiliates. Partners may also share such information with third party service providers whose services and/or materials are accessible through ICARE Buddy to enable such third parties to provide those services and materials to you.
DATA SECURITY : Partners seeks to prevent unauthorized access to your personal information by maintaining a secure firewall and use of security technologies to protect the integrity and privacy of any personal information you provide. As an additional security measure, your personal information is also encrypted during transmission by Secure Socket Layer 128-bit encryption software. (Encryption is a common method used to transmit sensitive data across the Internet. Encryption temporarily makes the text unreadable during the time it is being transmitted over the Internet.) This is an industry standard. Although we endeavor to protect your personal information, Partners cannot and does not warrant the security of any information you transmit to us through online applications, and you do so at your own risk. Depending on the nature of the inquiry, your communication could be discarded or archived. If you wish, you can contact us instead by telephone at the numbers provided throughout our site.
COOKIES :The ICARE Buddy website uses "cookies" to determine the number of times a page on the website has been accessed. Cookies are small computer files that a website can transfer to your computer. Examples of information we collect include how often someone visits our site and their activities while on our site. We use this information in the aggregate to understand how our visitors as a group use different resources. These reports do not contain any personally identifiable information.
LOGIN/PASSWORDS :Some sections of the ICARE Buddy website require login identifiers and/or passwords. You are responsible for taking reasonable steps to ensure that no unauthorized person has access to your password or account login information. It is your sole responsibility to control the use of login information and passwords, to authorize, monitor and control access to and use of your account and password and to inform ICARE Buddy promptly of any need to deactivate a password.
THIRD PARTY VENDORS/CONTENT PROVIDERS :Partners occasionally will engage reputable third-party vendors to help us manage our website, provide content and information and enable us to interact better with our patients and visitors.
LINKS TO EXTERNAL WEBSITES :This Website Privacy Policy applies only to the ICARE Buddy website. In order to provide ICARE Buddy users with other helpful information, the ICARE Buddy website contains links to other websites. However, Partners has no authority over external organizations' websites and this policy does not apply to external sites that are provided as links. We encourage you to read the privacy policies on any external websites before providing them with personal information.
CHANGES TO THIS POLICY :Partners reserves the right to change or update this Website Privacy Policy from time to time without notice, so please review it periodically to keep informed of any changes. If you have questions or comments regarding this Website Privacy Policy or about how we collect, use or protect your personal information, please contact us through our website. Your communications with the ICARE Buddy team may be recorded for quality assurance purposes.
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