ACOFP Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy

Terms and Conditions

The ACOFP website, https://www.ACOFP.org, and related ACOFP eLearning center site, discussion boards and other subsites under the domain ACOFP.org (the “website”). The Terms “we,” “us,” “our” and “ACOFP” refer to the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians. The term “you” refers to the individual visiting the website and/or contributing content on or to the website. By accessing and/or contributing to the website, you agree to be legally bound by the following terms (the “Terms” or “Agreement”). If you do not agree to be legally bound by all of the Terms, then please do not use or contribute to the website. Be sure to return to this page periodically to review the most current version of the Terms. We reserve the right at any time, at our sole discretion, to change or otherwise modify the Terms without prior notice to you, and your continued access of and/or contribution to this website after changes means you agree to be legally bound by the Terms as they are updated and/or amended. You agree to these Terms by using this site.

Use of website, including ACOFP discussion boards and user generated content

    1. To use this website, you agree that you:
    1. are at least 18 years old
    2. will comply with all applicable laws and regulations c. will use this website in a professional manner
    2. You agree that you will not:
    1. misuse information and/or content on the website, including any ACOFP eLearning content and discussion boards
    2. modify, adapt, reverse engineer or disassemble any portion of this website
    3. interfere with or disrupt the operation of the website
    4. use the website in a way or post content that violates the legal rights of another, or harasses, abuses or harms another
    5. disclose the private or confidential information of another
    6. violate the intellectual property rights of another
    7. post any content that includes unauthorized advertising, contains inappropriate, illegal or offensive materials or promotes a fraud
    8. post content that implies or states you or another, or the products or services offered by you or another, are affiliated with or endorsed by ACOFP, without our explicit consent
    9. post content that contains malware, viruses, worms or any harmful code
    3. ACOFP does not control the information posted by or on behalf of users or others and has no obligation to monitor postings or other user contributed content. ACOFP is not responsible for the content posted by or on behalf of users or others, or for any harm or damages related to your use of or reliance on such content. If you have a good faith complaint concerning a posting or other content, you may contact ACOFP at acofp@acofp.org or at 330 E Algonquin Rd Ste 1, Arlington Heights, IL 60005 with information that is at least sufficient to identify your concern. Please be advised that ACOFP may attempt to forward your complaint, including your contact information, to the user who posted the content. ACOFP may, but need not, investigate your complaint and take action in good faith based upon your complaint. ACOFP will have no liability or responsibility for the performance or lack of performance of such an investigation or action.
    4. ACOFP reserves the right to edit, remove or refuse to post any information or materials, in whole or in part, for any reason whatsoever.
    5. ACOFP does not provide a storage service, and has no obligation to store, maintain or provide copies of any information, content or postings unless required by applicable law.

Your license to ACOFP

By posting content on the website, including any discussion boards, or by submitting content to ACOFP for publication, you: Grant ACOFP an unrestricted, irrevocable, nonexclusive license to use, reproduce, display, perform, modify, process, publish, transmit and distribute that content or information, all without any further consent, notice and/or compensation to you or others. Agree that other users and ACOFP members may freely access and share your content and information, subject to any limitations clearly and prominently specified in the content posted or submitted by you, but in any case, without further consent, notice and/or compensation to you or others. And agree that ACOFP may edit and make formatting changes to the content posted or submitted by you

Copyright

This website, including but not limited to all text and images not submitted by a user, is owned and copyrighted by ACOFP, all rights reserved, or others with all rights reserved unless otherwise noted. Your use of any content displayed on the website is subject to these Terms, and to any restrictions or notifications specified in the content itself.

Privacy Policy

The American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians (ACOFP) is committed to protecting the privacy of its members. ACOFP maintains safeguards to store and secure information about its members. The safeguards may be physical, electronic or procedural. This Privacy Policy (“Policy”) describes: 1. how ACOFP collects information from its website (acofp.org) and through your other voluntary interactions with ACOFP (e.g., subscription to an ACOFP publication, purchase of an ACOFP product, application for ACOFP membership, registration to an ACOFP event, participation in a member survey); and 2. how ACOFP uses this information. With respect to websites, please note that this policy applies only to ACOFP’s websites and not to the websites of unrelated third-party companies or organizations to which ACOFP provides links, or to any software that may be downloaded from ACOFP’s websites.

By visiting ACOFP’s website, becoming a member, or otherwise voluntarily submitting information to ACOFP, you agree to this Policy. ACOFP reserves the right to make changes to this Policy at any time.

eLearning center disclaimer

The American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians (ACOFP) eLearning Center is an educational resource and as such does not define a standard of care, nor is it intended to dictate an exclusive course of treatment or procedure to be followed. It presents methods and techniques of clinical practice that are acceptable and used by recognized authorities, for consideration by licensed physicians and healthcare providers to incorporate into their practice. Variations of practice, taking into account the needs of the individual patient, resources and limitation unique to the institution or type of practice, may be appropriate.

The statements and opinions expressed within these educational programs are those of the faculty and not necessarily those of the ACOFP. The ACOFP disclaims any responsibility and/or liability for such information.

Liability disclaimer

The information, software, products and services on this website may include inaccuracies or errors. ACOFP does not guarantee the accuracy of, and disclaims all liability for, any errors or other inaccuracies relating to the information and description of the products and services discussed on this website. ACOFP makes no representations about the suitability of the information, software, products and services (collectively, “items”) contained on this website for any purpose, and the inclusion of offering of any items on the website does not constitute any endorsement or recommendation of such items by ACOFP. All such items are provided “as is” without warranty of any kind. ACOFP hereby disclaims all warranties and conditions regarding the items, including all implied warranties and conditions of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title and noninfringement. In no event shall ACOFP, its officers, directors, employees or affiliates be liable for any direct, indirect, punitive, incidental, special or consequential damages arising out of, or in any way connected with, your access to, display of or use of this website or with the delay or inability to access, display or use this website whether based on a theory of negligence, contract tort, strict liability or otherwise, and even if ACOFP has been advised of the possibility of such damages. Some laws or jurisdictions do not allow certain disclaimers and/or the limitation or exclusion of liability, so some or all of these limits or disclaimers may not apply to you.

The limitation of liability reflects the allocation of risk between the parties. The limitations specified in this section will survive and apply even if any limited remedy specified in these terms is found to have failed of its essential purpose. The limitations of liability provided in these terms inure to the benefit of ACOFP.

ACOFP shall not be held responsible for any hacking attempt that may lead to the data being compromised.

Cookies

ACOFP employs cookies to collect information about all visitors to ACOFP websites, including pages viewed and the order visited, terms used in searching ACOFP websites, and products investigated or purchased. ACOFP uses cookies to offer greater functionality, and the information generated from these cookies is used to help determine which services are most important and to guide editorial and business decisions.

Users who do not desire the functionality offered by cookies may disable them in their browsers or through settings on their mobile devices. However, users who do so may not be able to use some features of ACOFP websites. For example, a registered user must have cookies enabled to access the registered-user sections of ACOFP websites.

For system administration and troubleshooting, ACOFP also logs the originating Internet Protocol (IP) address, the browser and operating system used, and information about your individual use, such as time and date of visits, duration of sessions, and other similar usage or system data.

ACOFP collects this non-personally identifiable information from users who are browsing the public areas of ACOFP websites. Users of the public areas of the ACOFP website browse anonymously; however, once a user registers and logs in as a member, subsequent visits to public areas of ACOFP websites are no longer anonymous. ACOFP does not review the use of publicly accessible areas of ACOFP websites by individual users unless this information will assist in troubleshooting individual problems or in certain cases in conjunction with personally identifiable information (as set forth below under “How does ACOFP use information collected?”). ACOFP will also review this information if a user's account is associated with:

  1. attempts to violate the security of ACOFP computer networks;
  2. activity that degrades the performance of ACOFP websites; or
  3. activity that might be related to copyright or other violations.

Membership Information

ACOFP records the user’s name and member ID number for all registered users (i.e., users who have logged into a password-protected area of an ACOFP website). By using the ACOFP website, a user may be asked to provide personally identifiable information (e.g., name, address, zip code, email address, telephone number, credit card payment information) to purchase a product, participate in an ACOFP activity, subscribe to a journal, request information or otherwise interact with ACOFP.

ACOFP collects email addresses voluntarily provided via membership applications and renewals, website registrations, product purchases, member surveys, downloads of certain materials, email communication sign-ups, and comments made in discussion threads on the ACOFP website.

ACOFP also maintains a membership database. The information in this database (e.g., association numbers; demographic information, education and specialty) is drawn from membership applications, dues payment forms, subscriptions, product orders, continuing medical education (CME) reporting, public databases, member surveys, and other correspondence between ACOFP and its members or chapters.

ACOFP does not disclose the credit card account information or activity of its members. When members pay using their credit cards, ACOFP submits this information encrypted to obtain payment from the appropriate clearing house. If credit card numbers are stored in ACOFP databases, they are encrypted.

How does ACOFP use information collected?

ACOFP uses the information it collects to better serve members and visitors to ACOFP websites, to improve its web content, to respond to visitor needs and preferences, and to develop new products and services. For example, ACOFP may combine information to offer products and services that may be of specific interest to the user.

Third party disclosure

ACOFP makes member contact information available in its online membership directory only to other members of ACOFP who have verified their membership status before entering the online membership directory. ACOFP may also make your contact information and/or other personal information publicly available regarding ACOFP programs and events or for other purposes, as permitted by you.

ACOFP also may share CME activity participation records with medical licensing boards (which may include CME reporting agents and/or contractors of those boards). Such records may include, but not be limited to: the member’s name and license number; the name and date of the CME activity; and the number of credits received for participation in the CME activity. Per the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, CME attendees’ names, addresses, license numbers, states of licensure and any transfers of value may be shared with the CME activities’ funders.

ACOFP also may disclose limited personal information (e.g., name, address, email address, purchase information) to outside service providers that help ACOFP offer products, services and information. For example, ACOFP may work with outside service providers to: 1. distribute emails or make telephone solicitations; 2. assist with direct marketing, customize journal advertisements and collect data; 3. help detect and prevent fraud; and 4. otherwise assist ACOFP in enhancing its products, services and other offerings. ACOFP requires that these outside service providers agree to keep confidential all such information and to use it for the purposes designated by ACOFP.

Like many other organizations, ACOFP may use outside marketing companies to place and monitor advertisements or links on ACOFP websites, social media, and on other websites. These companies may use non-personally identifiable information (e.g., links clicked on during a visit, browser type, time and date, subject of advertisements clicked on or scrolled over) and personally identifiable information during your visits to the ACOFP website to provide advertisements about products and services more likely to be of interest to you. These companies typically use a cookie or a third-party web beacon to collect this information. ACOFP is not responsible for the collection or use of information by such marketing companies or third-party websites.

On occasion, ACOFP also may provide, either itself or through an outside service provider, personal information to third parties that offer their own CME, products or services deemed of potential interest to members and/or to the practice of medicine. These third parties only receive names and addresses; they do not receive phone numbers, fax numbers, demographic information or email addresses.

External relationships

ACOFP has agreements with other organizations that offer products and services through ACOFP websites or third-party agreements. When the user interacts with these organizations on the organizations’ websites, whether by following links from an ACOFP website, within an ACOFP email or otherwise, different rules and privacy policies may apply. Since ACOFP does not control the collection of information or the use of information collected via these other organizations’ websites, ACOFP is not responsible for their privacy practices, security or content.

Legal requirements

ACOFP may release personal information to third parties to comply with legal requirements. ACOFP’s right to disclose any such information shall take precedence over any terms of ACOFP’s Privacy Policy as disclosed elsewhere on the website.

Copyright © 2019 American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians

Copyright © ACOFP 2023.