Terms and Conditions

Community Rules & Etiquette

Thank you for being part of our community. This is an excellent medium with which to solicit the advice of your peers, benefit from their experience, and participate in ongoing conversations.

To ensure the best possible experience for all members, we have established some basic guidelines and rules for participation. Please take a moment to acquaint yourself with these important guidelines. In order to preserve a climate that encourages both civil and fruitful dialogue, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate membership in this community for anyone who violates these rules.

By joining this community, you agree:

  • That you have read and agree to abide by these rules and guidelines
  • To reserve content and discussions to the most appropriate medium.

Questions about the community, rules, or guidelines should be directed to our Member Services department via the Contact Us link.

The Rules:

Members must never post any information about a patient that would violate HIPPA or otherwise permit identification of a patient.

Use

    A. The HOPA Discussion Group may be used only by HOPA members.
    B. Members may use the discussion group to:
            1. Ask questions, share ideas and information, and inform members about important news
            2. Obtain comments or suggestions about hypothetical cases and standard procedures
            3. Obtain general oncology-hematology or general pharmacy/medical information
            4. Discuss therapeutic topics in compliance with HIPAA regulations.
    C. Members may not use the discussion group to:
            1. Violate HIPPA or discuss identifiable patients or cases
            2. Promote any fee-based or donation-based programs, educational or otherwise
            3. Advertise employment opportunities
            4. Post commercial messages
            5. Post items for a non-member or outside group
            6. Cross-post messages to or from an external discussion group.

Special Use

    A. Members may request special use of the discussion group for use not outlined above and must receive approval of the President-Elect prior.
            1. Members may request approval by sending the request to info@hoparx.org
    B. After approval, members may use the discussion group to:
            1. Provide information about free educational events
                    i. The event must not be within 30 days before or after a HOPA meeting.
                    ii. The event must reflect the interests of hematology/oncology pharmacists and does not conflict with the interest or purpose of the association.

    Etiquette

    1. State the topic of your comments clearly and concisely in the subject line.
    2. Ensure all your postings relate to the topic in that subject line.
    3. Include only the relevant portions of the original message in your reply.
    4. Identify yourself on every message you send to the HOPA Discussion Group, including your name, affiliation, location, and email address.
    5. Be courteous. Discussions on the discussion group are meant to stimulate conversation, not create contention. Do not post confrontational or harmful remarks; do not challenge or attack others.
    6. Messages in the discussion group must have content that may benefit all participants; send messages directed to individuals, such as gratitude or general agreement, to their individual email address.
    7. Remember that every message posted to the discussion group is sent to every subscriber to the list and cannot be recalled.
    8. Obtain permission from the original sender before forwarding a personal response to the discussion group or elsewhere.
    9. When discussing products, services, or programs, keep in mind that this information is available for all to see. 
    10. Requests for members to report adverse events must be made through HOPA Staff and shall not be reported to the manufacturer on the initial poster’s behalf, requested publicly within HOPA Central, or via private messages to the original poster.
      1. HOPA Staff will review and submit the request to report to the member directly.
      1. Only one request to report may be made per event or incident.
      2. Requests to report must be submitted to info@hoparx.org

    Surveys/Polls

    1. Members may use the discussion group for surveys/polls of no more than 3 questions.
    2. Members who wish to conduct longer surveys must refer to the HOPA policy on surveys by contacting HOPA staff.
    3. To ensure all participants benefit, the results of any poll or survey posted on the HOPA discussion group must be made available to the discussion group within 30 days of the posting.
    4. Polls and surveys must abide by all rules outlined in the Code of Conduct.

     Legal

    1. Defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials are strictly prohibited.
    2. Use caution when discussing products. Information posted on the lists is available for all to see, and comments are subject to libel, slander, and antitrust laws.
    3. Do not post any information or other material protected by copyright without the permission of the copyright owner. By posting material, the posting party warrants and represents that he or she owns the copyright with respect to such material or has received permission from the copyright owner. In addition, the posting party grants HOPA and users of this discussion group the nonexclusive right and license to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, print, and use such information or other material.
    4. Messages should not be posted if they encourage or facilitate members to arrive at any agreement that either implies or expressly or implicitly leads to price fixing, a boycott of another's business, or other conduct intended to illegally restrict free trade. Messages that encourage or facilitate an agreement about the following subjects are inappropriate: prices, discounts, or terms or conditions of sale; salaries; profits, profit margins, or cost data; market shares, sales territories, or markets; allocation of customers or territories; or selection, rejection, or termination of customers or suppliers.

    Violations

         A. HOPA reserves the right to suspend or terminate discussion group use for members who violate the rules.
         B. HOPA members who believe this policy has been violated should contact HOPA at info@hoparx.org.
         C. Members who violate the policy will receive an email letter of warning with:
                 1. A statement of the proper use of the HOPA Discussion Group as a professional forum where a code of conduct is expected and agreed upon by all who participate
                 2. A summary of the offending post so that the member is aware of which post broke protocol and why
                 3. A link to the copy of the policy and rules of etiquette
                 4. A warning that if this should happen again, the person will be placed on probation for a duration of time which will be kept on file.
         D. Future violations will lead to removal from the HOPA Discussion Group.
         E. Violators who have been removed from the discussion group may appeal in writing to the HOPA Board of Directors.

    Disclaimer

    This discussion group is provided by HOPA as a service to members. HOPA is not responsible for the opinions and information posted on this site by others; postings represent the viewpoint of the writer and are not endorsed by HOPA. HOPA disclaims all warranties with regard to information posted on this site, whether posted by HOPA or any third party; this disclaimer includes all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness. In no event shall HOPA be liable for any special, indirect, or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data, or profits arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of any information posted on this site.