Social Media Policy

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Published: February 2018


Disclaimer

If you have any questions about this notice or if you need more information, please contact our compliance specialist:

  • Compliance Specialist
  • 23215 Commerce Park, Suite 318
  • Beachwood, OH 44122
  • Telephone: (216) 755-4044
  • Fax: (330) 967-0571
  • Email:

Terms of Use applicable to EL-HALLAK RHEUMATOLOGY AND SPECIALTY INFUSION SERVICES LLC and its website. For Guest Wireless Network policy visit Guest Wireless Access Acceptable Use Policy.

Social media has become an integral part of modern life. It keeps us in touch with friends and family, it informs us about our world, and it gives us a platform allowing us to be heard. The information and advice published or made available through this web site is not intended to replace the services of a physician, nor does it constitute a doctor-patient relationship. Information on this web site is provided for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice.

Comment Policy

We encourage your comments on the EL-HALLAK RHEUMATOLOGY AND SPECIALTY INFUSION SERVICES LLC (“Provider”) various blogs and social media platforms, and hope you will join the discussions. We can't respond to every comment, particularly those that deal with individual medical cases and issues. We review comments before they're posted, and those that are off-topic or clearly promoting a commercial product generally won't make the cut. We also expect a basic level of civility; disagreements are fine, but mutual respect is a must, and profanity or abusive language are out-of-bounds.

By posting any comments, posts or other material on the Provider-sponsored blogs, you give the Provider the irrevocable right to reproduce, distribute, publish, display, edit, modify, create derivative works from, and otherwise use your submission for any purpose in any form and on any media. You also agree that you will not:

  • Post material that infringes on the rights of any third party, including intellectual property, privacy or publicity rights.
  • Post material that is unlawful, obscene, defamatory, threatening, harassing, abusive, slanderous, hateful, or embarrassing to any other person or entity as determined by Alaska Regional Hospital in its sole discretion.
  • Post advertisements or solicitations of business.
  • Post chain letters or pyramid schemes.
  • Impersonate another person.
  • Allow any other person or entity to use your identification for posting or viewing comments.
  • Post the same note more than once or "spam."

The Provider reserves the right (but is not obligated) to do any or all of the following:

  • Remove communications that are abusive, illegal or disruptive, or that otherwise fail to conform with these Terms and Conditions.
  • Terminate a user's access to the blog feature upon any breach of these Terms and Conditions.
  • Edit or delete any communications posted on the blog feature, regardless of whether such communications violate these standards.

Finally, to promote respectful discussion within this forum, we request that you be courteous and productive and avoid comments that are profane, obscene, offensive, sexually explicit, inappropriate, inflammatory or otherwise objectionable or inaccurate. Blogs often foster debate of an issue; users are to engage in such exchanges with mutual respect for others' opinions. We reserve the right to amend these Terms and Conditions from time to time in our judgment to address issues that may arise and changes in our operations or the law. You agree that you will indemnify the Provider against any damages, losses, liabilities, judgments, costs or expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees and costs) arising out of a claim by a third party relating to any material you have posted.

For the Provider Employees

The following are guidelines for the Provider employees who participate in social media. Social media includes personal blogs and other websites, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube or others. These guidelines apply whether employees are posting to their own sites or commenting on other sites:

  1. Follow all our applicable policies. For example, you must not share confidential or proprietary information about the Provider and you must maintain patient privacy.
  2. Write in the first person. Where your connection to the Provider is apparent, make it clear that you are speaking for yourself and not on behalf of the Provider. In those circumstances, you should include this disclaimer: "The views expressed on this [blog; website] are my own and do not reflect the views of my employer." Consider adding this language in an "About me" section of your blog or social media profile.
  3. If you identify your affiliation to the Provider, your social media activities should be consistent with the Provider’s high standards of professional conduct.
  4. If you communicate in the public internet about the Provider-related matters, you must disclose your connection with the Provider and your role at the Provider.
  5. Be professional, use good judgment and be accurate and honest in your communications; errors, omissions or unprofessional language or behavior reflect poorly on the Provider, and may result in liability for you or the Provider. Be respectful and professional to fellow employees, business partners, competitors and patients.
  6. Ensure that your social media activity does not interfere with your work commitments.
  7. The Provider strongly discourages “friending” of patients on social media websites. Staff in patient care roles generally should not initiate or accept friend requests except in unusual circumstances such as the situation where an in-person friendship pre-dates the treatment relationship.
  8. The Provider discourages staff in management/supervisory roles from initiating “friend” requests with employees they manage.  Managers/supervisors may accept friend requests if initiated by the employee, and if the manager/supervisor does not believe it will negatively impact the work relationship.
  9. The Provider does not endorse people, products, services and organizations. Official the Provider accounts should not be used to provide such endorsements. For personal social media accounts where your connection to the Provider is apparent, you should be careful to avoid implying that an endorsement of a person or product is on behalf of the Provider, rather than a personal endorsement. As an example, LinkedIn users may endorse individuals or companies, but may not use the Provider's name in connection with the endorsement, state or imply that the endorsement is on behalf of the Provider, or state specifically that the endorsement is based on work done at the Provider.
  10. Unless approved by the Center for Social Media, your social media name, handle and URL should not include the Provider’s name or logo.