HCEsquared Terms of Use 

Effective Date: 10/06/2026

ARTICLE 1 · WHO WE ARE AND HOW THESE TERMS APPLY 

1.1   The agreement 

These Terms of Use ("Terms") are a binding contract between you and HCEsquared, LLC, 201 Tom Hall Street, PO Box 1299, Fort Mill, South Carolina 29715 ("HCE²," "we," "us," or "our"). 

1.2   What they cover 

These Terms govern your access to and use of the websites, mobile applications, conference and event platforms, learning systems, communities, journals, newsletters, and related services listed in Schedule A, together with all content and functionality made available through them (collectively, the "Platform"). 

1.3   Documents that form part of these Terms 

The following are incorporated by reference: the Privacy Policy; the Cookie and Tracking Technologies Policy; the Editorial and Medical Review Policy; and the Community Guidelines. Where a privacy notice conflicts with these Terms on a matter that notice is required by law to address, the notice controls. Otherwise these Terms control. 

1.4   Signed agreements come first 

If you have a separate signed written agreement with us — a faculty, speaker, author, or advisory board agreement; a sponsorship, exhibitor, or media agreement; an institutional, enterprise, or data license; or a professional services agreement — that agreement controls over these Terms to the extent of any conflict, as to the subject matter it covers. Nothing in these Terms expands our rights, or limits our obligations, under any such agreement. 

1.5   How you accept 

You accept these Terms by checking the acceptance box presented when you register for an account or for an event, or — for parts of the Platform that do not require an account — by accessing or using them. If you do not agree, do not use the Platform. 

1.6   Changes to these Terms 

We may change these Terms. We will post the revised Terms with a new effective date and, for material changes, give registered users at least thirty (30) days' notice by email and in the Platform. Material changes take effect at the end of that period. Changes that introduce new features, or that are required by law, may take effect immediately. Where a change materially reduces your rights, we will ask you to accept it before you continue to use the affected part of the Platform. Changes to Article 18 are governed by § 18.9. 

1.7   Alternative formats 

If you need these Terms in large print, audio, braille, or another accessible format, contact us at accessibility@hcesquared.com and we will provide one at no charge. 

1.8   Features are described by what they do 

These Terms describe features by function rather than by product name, because product names change and features are added. Where we launch, rename, merge, or replace a feature that performs a function these Terms already govern, these Terms apply to it as they stand. Where we launch a feature that does something these Terms do not cover, we will update them under § 1.6 before or when it becomes available to you. 

ARTICLE 2 · ELIGIBILITY — A PLATFORM FOR HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS 

2.1   Who the Platform is for 

The Platform is built for, and directed to, licensed and credentialed healthcare professionals, health professions trainees, and professionals working in healthcare, life sciences, and medical education ("HCPs"). It is directed only to persons located in the United States, and all data collected through the Platform is collected, stored, and processed in the United States. It is not directed to patients, caregivers, or members of the public seeking medical advice, and it is not directed to children. 

2.2   What you represent when you register 

By creating an account you represent and warrant that: 

•   you are at least eighteen (18) years old; 

•   you are (a) a healthcare professional holding a current, unrestricted license or registration in good standing, (b) a student, resident, or fellow enrolled in an accredited health professions program, or (c) a professional employed by a healthcare institution, life sciences company, medical society, or medical education organization; 

•   the professional information you give us — name, degree, specialty, license number and state(s), National Provider Identifier (NPI), board certifications, institution, and practice setting — is true, accurate, and current, and you will keep it current; 

•   you are not excluded from participation in any federal or state healthcare program and are not listed on the OIG List of Excluded Individuals/Entities; 

•   you are not located in, or ordinarily resident in, a country or region subject to comprehensive U.S. sanctions, and you are not identified on any U.S. government restricted-party list; and 

•   you are not accessing the Platform on behalf of a competitor for competitive purposes. 

• If you access the Platform from outside the United States, you do so on your own initiative and acknowledge that the Platform is operated from and governed by the laws of the United States; that your information will be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States, where data protection laws may differ from those of your country; and that you are responsible for complying with any local laws that apply to your use of the Platform. 

2.3   Verification 

You authorize us to verify and keep current the professional information you provide by checking it against authoritative and commercial sources, including the NPPES NPI Registry, state licensing boards, board certification registries, the OIG exclusion list, and third-party healthcare provider reference databases. If we cannot verify your credentials, or if verification contradicts what you told us, we may limit, suspend, or close your account and may withhold or reverse continuing education credit. 

2.4   Public areas and non-HCP visitors 

Parts of the Platform are open without registration, including general disease and treatment information written for a broad audience. If you are not an HCP you may read those areas, but you may not register an account, take part in the community, or claim continuing education credit. Public content is general health information. It is not medical advice, it is not a substitute for care from your own clinician, and reading it creates no clinician–patient relationship. 

2.5   No one under 18 

The Platform may not be used by anyone under 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If we learn that we have, we will delete it. If you believe a child has given us personal information, contact us at privacy@hcesquared.com. 

2.6   One person, one account 

Your account is personal to you. Do not share your credentials, let anyone else use your account, or use anyone else's. Because continuing education credit, credit reporting, and disclosure obligations attach to a named individual, credential sharing is grounds for immediate suspension and for reversal of any credit claimed under the shared account. 

2.7   Institutional and employer-purchased access 

Where an employer, society, or institution buys access on your behalf, that entity's agreement governs the commercial terms and these Terms still govern your individual use. Unless you consent separately or that agreement and applicable law permit otherwise, the purchasing entity receives aggregate reporting about its population, not individually identifiable reporting about you — except for confirmation that you completed an activity the entity paid for you to complete. 

ARTICLE 3 · YOUR ACCOUNT 

3.1   Registration 

Some features require an account. Give us accurate information, keep it current, and update it when it changes — particularly your license status, specialty, and institution, which we rely on to determine what you may access and how credit is reported. 

3.2   Security 

You are responsible for your credentials and for everything that happens under your account. Keep your password confidential, use multi-factor authentication where we offer it, and sign out on shared devices. 

3.3   Tell us about a compromise 

Notify us immediately at security@hcesquared.com if you learn of unauthorized use of your account or any other breach of security. We will act on it; we are not liable for losses arising before you tell us. 

3.4   Inactivity and closure 

We may close accounts that have been inactive for an extended period, on notice to the email address on file. Closing your account does not delete your continuing education records, which we retain for the period our accrediting bodies require — see § 6.6. 

ARTICLE 4 · YOUR LICENSE TO USE THE PLATFORM 

4.1   What you may do — professional use 

Subject to these Terms, we grant you a limited, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable license to access the Platform and to view, stream, and — where we provide a download function — download content for your own professional education and for use in your own clinical practice, teaching, or institutional role. That expressly includes applying what you learn in the care of your patients, discussing it with colleagues in your practice or institution, and using it toward licensure, certification, and credentialing requirements. 

4.2   What the license does not cover 

Without our prior written permission you may not: 

•   redistribute, republish, resell, syndicate, or sublicense Platform content, or make it available to anyone outside your practice or institution; 

•   use Platform content or your access for promotional or commercial purposes on behalf of a pharmaceutical, biotechnology, device, diagnostics, or other commercial entity; 

•   remove or obscure attribution, disclosure statements, accreditation statements, or copyright notices; 

•   create derivative works from Platform content, other than personal notes and summaries for your own use; 

•   use any robot, spider, scraper, headless browser, or other automated means to access, index, or copy the Platform, or circumvent any rate limit, access control, paywall, or IP block; 

•   use any part of the Platform or its content to train, fine-tune, ground, retrieve into, or evaluate any machine learning or artificial intelligence model, or to assemble any dataset for those purposes; or 

•   decompile, reverse engineer, or attempt to derive the source code of the Platform or its software. 

4.3   Prohibited uses 

You may not use the Platform to engage in any of the following prohibited uses. The Community Guidelines add detail for community areas: 

•   share patient protected health information or other individually identifiable health information in violation of HIPAA or other applicable law, including in violation of § 5.6; 

•   use the Platform to provide medical advice, diagnoses, or treatment to patients or members of the public, or to establish a clinician–patient relationships  

•   post false, misleading, deceptive, or unsubstantiated clinical content, including fabricated cases or data or any misrepresentation of off-label status; 

•   scrape, crawl, harvest, data mine, or reverse engineer Platform data, content, or user information, or circumvent any rate limit or access control, in violation of § 4.2; 

•   use the Platform for any unlawful purpose or in violation of professional licensure, scope-of-practice, or professional ethics rules; 

•   engage in conduct that compromises the integrity of accredited CME, including falsely attesting to participation, claiming credit not earned, sharing assessment answers, completing an activity for another person, inserting commercial bias or promotional content into an accredited activity, or failing to disclose a relevant financial relationship; 

•   impersonate any person or entity, or misrepresent your identity, credentials, licensure, affiliations, or professional status; 

•   engage in promotional or off-label promotion on behalf of a manufacturer without authorization; 

•   harass, threaten, defame, or infringe the rights of any person or entity; 

•   introduce malware or other harmful code, interfere with the Platform’s operation, availability, or security, or circumvent any security or access-control measure; 

•   harvest contact details or use the Platform to send unsolicited advertising, solicitations, or other communications; 

•   use the Platform or any Platform content to train, fine-tune, ground, retrieve into, or evaluate an artificial intelligence or machine learning model; or 

•   engage in any other conduct that violates these Terms, the Community Guidelines, or applicable law. 

Violations may result in removal of content, suspension or termination of access, reversal of credit, and reporting to an accrediting body, licensing authority, law enforcement, or other authority where required. 

4.4   Changes to the Platform 

We may change, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Platform. Where a change materially reduces functionality you have paid for, we will give reasonable notice and, if you ask, refund the unused portion of what you paid. 

4.5   Reservation 

All rights not expressly granted are reserved to us and our licensors. 

ARTICLE 5 · EDUCATIONAL CONTENT AND CLINICAL DISCLAIMERS 

5.1   Professional education, not medical advice 

The Platform delivers professional and continuing education to a clinician audience. Nothing on it is medical advice, a diagnosis, a treatment recommendation, or a statement of the standard of care. Nothing on it creates a clinician–patient relationship between you and HCE², or between you and any faculty member or other user. 

5.2   Your clinical judgment governs 

You are a licensed professional. Every decision about the diagnosis, treatment, and management of a patient is yours alone, and must rest on your independent clinical judgment, your own assessment of the patient, current approved labeling and prescribing information, applicable guidelines, and your professional and legal obligations. You agree not to rely on Platform content as the sole basis for any clinical decision. 

5.3   Off-label and investigational content 

Faculty may discuss uses of drugs, biologics, and devices that are investigational or that have not been approved or cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and may present data that has not been peer reviewed. Any such discussion is educational. It is not a recommendation, endorsement, or promotion by HCE² or by any commercial supporter, and it is not a claim about safety or effectiveness. We label content that includes off-label or investigational discussion. 

5.4   Faculty views are their own 

Opinions expressed by faculty, authors, reviewers, and other users are theirs. They do not necessarily reflect the views of HCE², any accrediting body, any joint provider, or any commercial supporter. 

5.5   Currency 

Medicine changes. Content is accurate to the best of our knowledge as of the publication or review date shown on it. We are not obliged to update archived content, and archived material is kept for reference and record-keeping rather than as current guidance. 

5.6   No protected health information 

HCE² DOES NOT COLLECT PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION AS DEFINED IN 45 C.F.R. § 160.103, IS NOT A HIPAA COVERED ENTITY OR BUSINESS ASSOCIATE, AND IS NOT DESIGNED, SECURED, OR INTENDED TO RECEIVE PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION. 

You must not upload, post, or transmit patient protected health information through the Platform unless you have obtained all consents and authorizations required under HIPAA and other applicable law for that disclosure. Otherwise, you must de-identify the information in accordance with 45 C.F.R. § 164.514, including by removing names, dates, medical record or account numbers, contact details, full-face or identifiable photographs, identifying metadata, and other identifiers described in 45 C.F.R. § 164.514(b)(2). 

You are solely responsible for anything you submit in breach of this clause. We may remove it without notice, and § 17.4 applies. 

5.7   AI-assisted content 

Some material on the Platform — summaries, question sets, transcripts, translations, and derivative formats — is produced or assisted by automated tools including artificial intelligence, and is sourced and/or reviewed by qualified human editors. Where a work is substantially machine-generated we label it as such. Automated tools can err; §§ 5.1 and 5.2 apply in full to this material. 

5.8   Personalization and recommendations 

We rank and recommend content to you by automated processing of your professional profile and your activity on the Platform. This is a convenience feature. It is not clinical guidance and it is not a decision that produces legal or similarly significant effects. You can adjust or switch off personalization in your account settings. 

ARTICLE 6 · CONTINUING EDUCATION, ACCREDITATION, AND CREDIT 

6.1   Accreditation 

Accreditation and credit vary by activity. The accreditation statement, accredited or joint provider(s), credit designation statement, credit types and maximum credits available, eligible professions, and any requirements for earning credit for each activity will be provided with that activity. Not every activity on the Platform is accredited or offers credit, and an activity is accredited only if its accreditation statement says so. 

6.2   Independence 

Accredited education on the Platform is developed and delivered in accordance with the ACCME Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education. Commercial supporters do not select faculty, control content, or review content before it is delivered, except as the Standards expressly permit. 

6.3   Disclosure of financial relationships 

Everyone in control of accredited content discloses financial relationships with ineligible companies; relevant relationships are mitigated and disclosed to learners before the activity begins. If you serve as faculty, planner, reviewer, or moderator, you agree to make complete and timely disclosures and to update them when they change. 

6.4   Earning credit 

To claim credit you must complete the requirements stated for the activity, which may include verified attendance or participation, a pre-test, a post-test at a stated passing score, and an evaluation. You must attest that you participated and that what you tell us is accurate. Credit is awarded to a named individual and cannot be transferred. Attesting falsely is grounds for reversal of credit, notification of the relevant board where we are required to notify, and closure of your account. 

6.5   Credit reporting — what we send, and to whom 

To award and report credit we need, and by claiming credit you authorize us to collect and transmit, information including your full name, degree, email address, NPI, professional license number(s) and state(s), board certification identifiers, and — for pharmacy credit — your NABP e-Profile ID and date of birth (month and day). 

You authorize us to transmit your credit records to the recipients listed in Schedule B, which include the ACCME Program and Activity Reporting System (PARS) and, through PARS, the ABMS member boards, state medical boards, and CME Passport where you have elected board or state reporting; the NABP CPE Monitor for pharmacy credit; AAPA, AANP, ANCC, and other certifying bodies according to credit type; state boards and CE Broker where required; and any employer or institution that purchased the activity, in the form § 2.7 permits. 

This reporting is necessary to deliver the credit you asked for and to meet our obligations as an accredited provider. It continues even if you opt out of marketing under § 7.8. 

6.6   Transcripts, corrections, and retention 

Your transcript is available in your account. Please review it and tell us within 90 days of an activity if anything is wrong. We retain continuing education records for the period our accrediting bodies require — currently at least six years — whether or not you close your account. 

6.7   What commercial supporters receive 

For accredited activities we give commercial supporters aggregate, de-identified reporting: participant counts, specialty and practice-setting mix, completion rates, and aggregated evaluation results. We do not give commercial supporters individually identifiable information about your participation in accredited continuing education unless you have given separate, specific, and revocable consent at the point of collection. 

Non-accredited, promotional, and sponsored programs are different, and we label them as such. If you engage with a program labeled promotional or sponsored, visit an exhibitor, download a sponsor's material, allow your badge to be scanned, or opt in to a sponsor's follow-up, we may share your registration and engagement information with that sponsor and the sponsor may contact you. We tell you at the point of collection when a sponsor will receive your information. 

Your accredited-education record is kept separate from our commercial data products. Participation in accredited continuing education is not used to build, define, or enrich any audience segment we license to third parties under § 7.14, and is not included in any such license in identifiable form, unless you have given the separate consent described above. 

6.8   Fees 

Some activities are free and some are paid. Article 14 governs fees and refunds. 

6.9   Activities delivered through a learning management system 

Some accredited activities are delivered through, or launched from, a learning management system. When you take one, the activity reports your progress to that system and to its learning record store — at minimum that you launched, experienced, completed, or exited it, and, for activities with questions or in-video polls, the answers you gave and the score you achieved. That record is held in the learning platform as well as by us, and by your employer or institution where the activity was launched from its instance. 

ARTICLE 7 · HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION, INCLUDING FOR MARKETING 

7.1   Our business model, stated plainly 

HCE² is a medical education company. Much of what we produce is funded by sponsorship, exhibition, and advertising from pharmaceutical, biotechnology, device, and diagnostics companies and their agencies. We use information about you and about how you use the Platform to operate and personalize it, to build and measure audiences, to sell and report on sponsored programs and advertising, and to market our own and our partners' products and services to you. We would rather say that here, in the agreement you accept, than leave it to be inferred from a privacy policy. 

7.2   What we collect 

The Privacy Policy describes the categories of personal information we collect and the applicable retention periods. 

7.3   What we use it for 

Operating and securing the Platform; delivering and reporting continuing education under Article 6; personalizing content and recommendations; building, analyzing, and targeting audiences; delivering, optimizing, and measuring advertising and sponsored programs both on the Platform and on third-party platforms and publishers; reporting to sponsors in the form § 6.7 and § 7.5 describe; market research and analytics; developing new products and services; and marketing to you by email, post, and telephone, and by SMS where you have separately consented under § 7.7. 

7.4   Combining your information with data from other sources 

We may combine the information above with information from other sources, including healthcare provider reference and credentialing databases, professional societies and list providers, event and exhibition partners, advertising and identity-resolution partners, and licensed healthcare datasets. Depending on the dataset, that may include information about your practice, your institution, and your professional activity. We use combined data to keep your profile accurate, to build and target audiences, and to measure the reach and effect of educational and promotional programs. 

Where a measurement study uses prescriber-level or claims data, we run it through a licensed data partner, and unless you have expressly authorized otherwise that partner returns results to us and to sponsors only in aggregate or otherwise de-identified form. 

7.5   Who we share it with 

Service providers and processors acting on our behalf; event co-hosts, joint providers, and education partners; sponsors, exhibitors, and advertisers, subject to § 6.7; advertising, analytics, and identity partners, including by matching hashed identifiers so that advertising can be delivered and measured on other platforms; professional societies and journal partners; parties to a corporate transaction; and government or law enforcement where the law requires. 

Some disclosures are a sale or share under applicable U.S. privacy laws. We may sell and license personal information, including clinician audience data, for a fee and may enter into written data use agreements with third parties. Those agreements limit use to stated purposes, prohibit resale and re-identification, and require recipients to honor opt-outs passed through by HCE². Accredited continuing education participation, private messages (§ 8.11), Creation Tool Source Material (Article 9), and patient information are excluded, subject to the separate-consent rule in § 6.7. Section 7.8 describes your rights to know, delete, correct, and opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information, and our honoring of Global Privacy Control. 

7.6   Prescriber data and the AMA PDRP 

We honor the American Medical Association Physician Data Restriction Program. If you have registered with the PDRP we will not use your prescriber-identifiable data for pharmaceutical sales-representative marketing, we exclude you from audience data licensed under § 7.14 for that purpose, and we pass the restriction through by contract to partners who receive data from us. We also comply with any applicable state restriction on the use of prescriber-identifiable data for marketing. 

7.7   Communications — what we send and how you stop it 

Email. Every marketing email carries a working unsubscribe link, and you can also unsubscribe in your account settings. We act on it promptly and in any event within ten business days. There is no charge and we will not ask you for anything beyond your email address to do it. 

Service messages. Registration confirmations, credit and transcript notices, security alerts, and notices of changes to these Terms are part of the Platform, not marketing. You cannot unsubscribe from them while you hold an account. 

Text messages. We text you only where you have given separate, express written consent at the time you provide your mobile number. That consent is never a condition of registering, of purchasing anything, or of receiving credit. Reply STOP to any message to stop them; you may also withdraw consent by any other reasonable means and we will act within ten business days. Message and data rates may apply. 

Telephone calls. We do not make marketing calls using an automatic dialing system or a prerecorded or artificial voice without your prior express written consent. Calls we do make are about your registration, your account, or your credit. We honor the National Do Not Call Registry and our own internal do-not-call list — tell us to stop calling and we will. 

Fax. We do not send marketing faxes. Where we hold a fax number obtained from a provider directory rather than from you, we do not use it for marketing. 

Each channel is separate. Unsubscribing from email does not stop texts, and stopping texts does not stop email. Your account settings let you turn off each one, and § 7.8 covers everything else. 

7.8   Your choices 

You may manage marketing, cookie and tracking preferences, opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information and targeted advertising, limit our use and disclosure of sensitive personal information, opt out of the use of your engagement data for the measurement described in § 7.13, and request access to, correction of, portability of, or deletion of your personal information through account settings and the footer links described in the Privacy Policy. 

We honor the Global Privacy Control and other recognized opt-out preference signals as a valid opt-out of sale, sharing, and targeted advertising for the browser that sends them. Exercising these rights will not change the price or quality of anything we provide, and we will not discriminate or retaliate against you for exercising them. 

7.9   What opting out does not stop 

Even after you opt out of marketing and targeted advertising we will still deliver the Platform and the activities you asked for; report the credit you claimed under § 6.5; process your information for security, fraud prevention, and legal compliance; and use de-identified and aggregated data under § 7.10. 

7.10   De-identified and aggregate data 

We may create de-identified and aggregated data from information about you and may use, license, and disclose it — including in market research, benchmarking, and sponsor reporting — without restriction. We maintain it in de-identified form, do not attempt to re-identify it, and require by contract that recipients do not attempt to re-identify it. 

7.11   [Reserved] 

7.12   The privacy documents control 

The Privacy Policy and the Cookie and Tracking Technologies Policy describe all of the above in full and control if they conflict with this Article 7. 

7.13   Measuring whether education changes practice 

Sponsors ask whether the education they support makes a difference to how clinicians practice, and we measure it. Here is how. 

We take a group of clinicians who engaged with a program — registered, attended, completed the credit, or consumed the content — and compare them with a statistically matched group who did not. Both groups are matched against licensed, de-identified prescribing and diagnosis datasets held by specialist third-party data companies, inside a privacy-preserving environment operated for that purpose. The analysis reports the difference between the two groups in aggregate. 

What this means for you: your individual engagement record is an input to that matching. Your individual prescribing behavior is not something we receive, hold, or report. Neither we nor the sponsor receives an output that identifies you or shows what any individual clinician prescribed. Outputs are aggregate and are subject to minimum group sizes. 

§ 7.6 limits this where you have registered a prescriber-data restriction, and § 7.8 tells you how to opt out of the use of your engagement data for this purpose. 

7.14   Licensing audience data to third parties 

We may sell and license audience data about healthcare professionals, including data keyed to your National Provider Identifier, to third parties for a fee. Buyers are typically pharmaceutical, biotechnology, device, and diagnostics companies, their advertising and media agencies, and the advertising platforms they use. They may use it to identify and reach clinicians like you with promotional and educational messages, on this Platform and elsewhere, and to measure whether those messages worked. 

What can be in it. Your professional profile — name, degree, specialty and subspecialty, NPI, institution, practice setting, work address and email; the audience segments we derive from your activity; and your engagement with non-accredited content, sponsored programs, advertising, exhibitors, events, and journals. 

What is never in it. Accredited continuing education participation, except for a disclosure separately authorized under § 6.7; the content of your private messages (§ 8.11); anything you submit to a Creation Tool (Article 9); your own health information; and any patient information. 

Your control. You may opt out at any time through your account settings or the "Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information" link in the footer. We act on opt-outs within 15 days and notify recipients that received your data in the preceding 90 days to stop using it. Opting out does not affect your access, your price, or your credit. 

What we require of buyers. Every license is governed by a written data use agreement that limits use to the purposes stated in it, prohibits onward resale and re-identification, prohibits use for any employment, credentialing, credit, insurance, or licensure decision about you, and requires the buyer to honor opt-outs that HCE² passes through. 

ARTICLE 8 · YOUR CONTENT, FACULTY CONTENT, AND OUR CONTENT 

8.1   Definition 

"Your Content" means anything you post, upload, or submit to the Platform, including posts, comments, questions, images, recordings, ratings, and evaluation free text. 

8.2   The license you grant us 

You keep ownership of Your Content. You grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license — sublicensable only to service providers and to partners who host or distribute the Platform — to host, store, reproduce, adapt for format and accessibility, publish, and display Your Content for the purpose of operating, improving, securing, and promoting the Platform and the activity in which you posted it. 

That license ends when you delete Your Content, except for copies held in routine backups for a commercially reasonable period, content others have already shared or quoted, and records we must keep for accreditation or legal reasons. 

8.3   Faculty, speaker, author, and advisory content 

If you are a faculty member, speaker, author, reviewer, or advisory board member, the content you create in that capacity — presentations, manuscripts, recordings, and the recording of your voice and likeness — is governed by your separate written agreement and release and by any grant or program agreement that funded it. That agreement controls, and this Article 8 does not expand our rights under it. 

Where no signed agreement is in place, we will not use your recorded presentation, name, image, likeness, or voice in advertising or promotion without your written consent. 

8.4   Name, image, likeness, and content attributed to you 

We will not use your name, image, likeness, voice, credentials, or institutional affiliation to endorse or promote a commercial product or a sponsor without your separate written consent. 

Any content we draft, adapt, or generate for publication under your name — including social posts, summaries, and derivative educational materials attributed to you — will be sent to you for review, and will not be published without your approval. 

Synthetic and digitally generated likeness. We will not create or use a synthetic or digitally generated version of your voice, face, or likeness — including narration generated in your voice, a digital avatar resembling you, or a translated or lip-synchronised version of a recording of you — without your separate, specific, written consent identifying that use. A general recording consent, media release, or content license is not consent to a digital replica, and we will not treat it as one. 

After death. Where the law recognizes a right of publicity that survives death, what we may do with your name, image, likeness, or voice is governed by your written agreement. Where that agreement is silent, we will seek the consent of your estate or personal representative before using them in advertising or promotion. 

8.5   What you promise about Your Content 

You represent that you own or have the rights to Your Content; that it infringes no one's rights; that it contains no protected health information or patient information submitted in violation of § 5.6; that posting it complies with your employer's and your institution's policies; and that you have disclosed any financial relationship relevant to what you posted, including as the Physician Payments Sunshine Act may require. 

8.6   Feedback 

Suggestions and feedback about the Platform itself are non-confidential and we may use them freely without obligation to you. This does not apply to Your Content, to clinical or scientific work product, or to anything covered by a separate agreement. 

8.7   Community areas 

Community areas are visible to other registered users and are not private or confidential. Do not post patient protected health information except as permitted under § 5.6, promotional material for a commercial product, or content that misrepresents your credentials. The Community Guidelines apply. We may remove content and suspend accounts under them. 

8.8   Moderation 

We may review content but we are not obliged to, and we cannot review everything. We are not responsible for content posted by users, and nothing in these Terms makes us the publisher or speaker of it. 

8.9   Our content and marks 

The Platform, its software, and its content are protected by copyright, trademark, and other laws and are owned by us or our licensors. "Dermsquared," "CMEsquared," "HCEsquared," and our logos are our marks. Third-party marks belong to their owners and their appearance does not imply endorsement or affiliation. No license to any mark is granted by implication or estoppel. 

8.10   Copyright complaints (DMCA) 

Notification.  We take claims of copyright infringement seriously.  We will respond to notices of alleged copyright infringement that comply with applicable law.  If you believe any materials accessible on or from the Services infringes your copyright, you may request removal of those materials (or access to them) from the Website by submitting written notification to our copyright agent (designated below).  In accordance with the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 512) ("DMCA"), the written notice (the "DMCA Notice") must include substantially the following: 

(i) a physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed;  

(ii) identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works on the service are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works from the service;  

(iii) 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 Company to locate the material;  

(iv) information reasonably sufficient to permit HCE² to contact the complaining party, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an electronic mail address at which the complaining party may be contacted;  

(v) 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;  

(vi) a statement that the information in the notification is accurate; and  

(viii) 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.  If you fail to comply with all of the requirements of Section 512(c)(3) of the DMCA, your DMCA Notice may not be effective.  Upon removing any allegedly infringing material, HCE² will notify the alleged infringer of such takedown. 
 
Please note that under Section 512(f) of the DMCA, any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material or activity is infringing may be subject to liability. 
 
Counter Notification.  If you elect to send our copyright agent a counter notice, to be effective it must be a written communication that includes the following (please consult your legal counsel or See 17 U.S.C. Section 512(g)(3) to confirm these requirements):  

(i) a physical or electronic signature;  

(ii) identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled;  

(iii) a statement under penalty of perjury that the subscriber has a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled;  

(iv) adequate information by which we can contact you, including your name, address, and telephone number; and  

(v) a statement that the subscriber consents to the jurisdiction of a federal district court for the judicial district in which the address is located, or if the subscriber's address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which HCE² may be found, and that the subscriber will accept service of process from the person who provided notification under subsection (c)(1)(C) or an agent of such person. 

The DMCA allows us to restore the removed content if the party filing the original DMCA Notice does not file a court action against you within ten (10) business days of receiving the copy of your counter notice.  Please note that under Section 512(f) of the DMCA, any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material or activity was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification may be subject to liability.  

8.11   Private messages between members 

Direct messages between you and another member are private between you and the recipient. They are not community content, and §§ 8.2 and 8.7 do not apply to them. 

•   We do not use the content of your messages for advertising, audience building, sponsor reporting, or knowledge licensing, and we do not sell or share it. 

•   We access message content only where we must to operate the messaging service, to investigate a report from a participant, to respond to a credible safety or security concern, or where the law requires it. We log such access. 

•   Automated processing over messages is limited to delivery, spam and abuse detection, and security. We do not run content generation, profiling, or recommendation systems over your messages. 

•   Retention — messages remain available to both participants until deleted. Deleting a message removes it from your view; the recipient keeps their copy. When your account closes we delete your messages within 90 days, except where a legal hold applies. 

•   No protected health information. Section 5.6 applies to messages in full. Do not share patient information through a private message unless the disclosure is permitted under § 5.6. 

Nothing here makes a message confidential as against the person you sent it to. They can keep it, quote it, screenshot it, and act on it. 

ARTICLE 9 · CREATION TOOLS, AUTOMATED ASSESSMENT, AND PUBLISHING 

9.1   What this Article covers 

We offer, and will offer, features that let you submit material you have created and get something back — a draft, a summary, a translation, a score, an assessment, or a version formatted for somewhere else. This Article governs all of them, by function, whatever they are called: 

•   a Creation Tool is any feature that accepts material you submit and returns generated, adapted, or reformatted output; 

•   Source Material is what you submit to a Creation Tool — a manuscript, deck, document, image, recording, or audio file; 

•   an Automated Assessment is any score, verdict, flag, rating, or review that a Creation Tool produces by automated means about Source Material or output; and 

•   a Connected Account is a third-party account you link so that we can publish to it on your behalf. 

Creation Tools are optional. Nothing else on the Platform depends on your using one. 

9.2   What you promise about Source Material 

You represent that you created the Source Material or hold the rights to submit it; that submitting it breaches no policy of your employer, institution, society, or a journal, and no embargo; that it contains no protected health information or patient information submitted in violation of § 5.6; that it contains no third party's confidential or unpublished data without permission; and that you hold any consent required for any person appearing or speaking in it. 

9.3   How we process it, and who else touches it 

To produce output we transmit Source Material, and text and images derived from it, to processors — which include speech-to-text providers, large language model providers, and embedding providers. We use them only to produce your output. 

We do not permit those providers to use your Source Material or your output to train their models, and we do not use your Source Material to train any model of our own without your separate written consent. Where a processor may handle information subject to HIPAA, we do not route content to it until the required agreement is in place. 

Source Material is held in our storage. You can delete it, and the output derived from it, from your account at any time; § 8.2 governs what survives deletion. 

9.4   An Automated Assessment is an aid, not a clearance 

AN AUTOMATED ASSESSMENT IS A SOFTWARE AID. IT IS NOT A MEDICAL, SCIENTIFIC, REGULATORY, LEGAL, OR ACCREDITATION REVIEW; IT IS NOT PERFORMED BY A QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL; AND A FAVORABLE RESULT IS NOT APPROVAL, CLEARANCE, OR VERIFICATION OF ANYTHING. 

An Automated Assessment can miss an inaccurate statement, flag an accurate one, misread context, and fail to detect promotional, off-label, or fair-balance problems. You remain the reviewer of record for anything you publish. Before publishing, satisfy yourself independently that the content is accurate, appropriately balanced, compliant with your own disclosure obligations, and permitted by your employer, your institution, and any applicable accreditation or promotional rules. 

9.5   Advisory verdicts and predictive scores 

Where an Automated Assessment returns a view on whether content is ready to publish, that view is advisory. You may proceed regardless of it, and proceeding is your decision and your responsibility. Where an Automated Assessment predicts audience response, engagement, or reach, it speaks only to that. It carries no view on clinical merit, accuracy, appropriateness, or compliance, and a favorable prediction is not a reason to publish anything. 

9.6   No warranty on output 

Creation Tool output consists of drafts. It is generated by automated systems, it may contain errors, and it is provided without warranty of any kind. Article 16 and Article 17 apply to it in full. Nothing a Creation Tool produces is medical advice, and Article 5 governs it. 

9.7   Publishing to a Connected Account 

If you link a Connected Account so that we can publish on your behalf, you authorize us to post the specific content you approve, to that account, until you unlink it. We store the access credentials the third-party platform issues, use them only for that purpose, and delete them when you unlink the account or your account closes. 

Nothing is published without your affirmative approval of that specific item. We do not schedule, auto-publish, or amend an item after you approve it. Once content is on a third-party platform, that platform's terms govern it, and we cannot control or retract it beyond issuing a deletion request. 

You are responsible for what is published under your name, including any disclosure your employer, institution, or professional body requires you to make. 

9.8   Beta features and product research 

Some features are offered as beta or evaluation features. They may change or be withdrawn, they carry no service commitment, and we measure how they are used — including which suggestions are acted on, and whether advisory assessments are followed or overridden — so that we can evaluate and improve them. We report that measurement in aggregate. Where we want to use identifiable feedback from you in a case study or externally, we ask first. 

ARTICLE 10 · MESSAGES, ADVERTISING, AND INVITATIONS 

10.1   Four kinds of message, each labeled 

Messages reach you through the Platform in four classes, and we label which is which: 

•   Member messages — from other registered users. § 8.11 governs them. 

•   Service messages — from us, about your account, your registrations, and your credit. § 7.7 governs them. 

•   Commercial messages — from exhibitors, sponsors, advertisers, and manufacturers. §§ 10.2 and 10.3 govern them. 

•   Invitations — to take part in research, advisory work, surveys, or panels. § 10.4 governs them. 

These classes are defined by who is sending and why, not by the surface they appear on. They apply to in-Platform inboxes, notifications, email, and any future channel we add. 

10.2   Commercial messages 

Exhibitors, sponsors, advertisers, and manufacturers may send you messages. We select recipients using the professional profile and engagement information described in Article 7 — so you may receive a message because of your specialty, your practice setting, or the content and sessions you engaged with. 

The sender does not receive your contact details, your profile, or your engagement history merely by sending you a message. A sender learns who you are only if you reply, follow a call to action, request contact, or otherwise engage — and we tell you at that point. Commercial messages are delivered inside the Platform, not to your email inbox, unless you have separately opted in. 

Commercial messages are advertising. They are not accredited education, they are not endorsed by us, and § 6.7 governs the boundary between them and accredited activity. 

10.3   Opting out, and product requests 

You can turn off commercial messages in your account settings without affecting anything else you use. Turning them off does not stop service messages or accredited-activity notices. 

Where a commercial message offers to send you product information, samples, or a representative visit, following that call to action is a request we pass to the sender, who then deals with you directly under its own policies and obligations. It is not itself a request for prescription drug samples and does not satisfy the written request and signed receipt that federal law requires; the manufacturer must complete that separately with you. 

10.4   Invitations to research, advisory work, and surveys 

We pass on invitations to take part in clinical research, advisory boards, market research, and surveys. When we do: 

•   we are a channel, not the sponsor, the investigator, or the reviewing ethics committee, and we are not a party to the study or engagement; 

•   we do not vet, endorse, or verify the study, its design, its sponsor, or any compensation offered; 

•   accepting or declining creates no obligation to us, and declining has no effect on anything else you use; 

•   your response is shared with the inviting organization so that it can contact you, and is otherwise treated as described in Article 7; and 

•   payments or transfers of value you receive from a manufacturer may be reportable by that manufacturer under federal and state transparency law. That reporting is the payer's obligation, not ours, and you should assume any payment will be published. 

10.5   Advertising 

The Platform carries advertising, including branded promotional advertising for prescription products. All of it is labeled and separated from accredited education. 

Advertising claims are the advertiser's. The advertiser is responsible for the accuracy, substantiation, and fair balance of its claims, for any required important safety information and prescribing information, and for compliance with applicable advertising and promotional rules. We do not endorse advertised products, we make no representation about them, and the appearance of an advertisement is not a recommendation. Prescribing decisions must rest on approved labeling and your clinical judgment, not on an advertisement. 

Advertising may be targeted using the information described in Article 7, including on other platforms. § 7.8 tells you how to opt out of targeted advertising. If you believe an advertisement here is inaccurate or unbalanced, tell us at advertising@hcesquared.com; we will review it and can remove it. 

ARTICLE 11 · EDUCATIONAL ARCHIVE, KNOWLEDGE LICENSING, AND CLINICAL IMAGERY 

11.1   What we keep, and why 

We maintain a long-term archive of the educational material presented at our conferences and published on the Platform — presentations, recordings, manuscripts, and the figures and images within them. The archive supports accreditation record-keeping, on-demand access, derivative educational material under § 5.7, and the knowledge products described in § 11.3. 

11.2   Faculty material is governed by the faculty agreement 

What we may do with a faculty member's presentation, recording, likeness, voice, and figures is set by that faculty member's written agreement and release and by § 8.3. This Article 11 does not grant us rights in faculty material; it describes how we handle material we already have the right to use. Where the faculty agreement is silent, the narrower reading applies. 

11.3   Knowledge licensing 

We derive structured knowledge from the archive — attributable clinical assertions, with their source, author, and date — and make it available to third parties through a licensed interface, including to organizations building clinical software and artificial-intelligence systems. Attribution to the named author travels with each assertion. 

Material is not licensable by default. An item becomes available to external licensees only after human review confirms that the rights permit it and that the source was independent of commercial support. Faculty may withdraw their material from external licensing at any time by writing to rights@hcesquared.com; withdrawal applies prospectively and we will use reasonable efforts to have existing licensees cease use. 

11.4   Clinical images of patients 

A CLINICAL IMAGE OF A PATIENT IS NOT LICENSED EXTERNALLY, AND IS NOT INCLUDED IN ANY EXTERNALLY AVAILABLE PRODUCT, UNLESS A DOCUMENTED PATIENT AUTHORIZATION PERMITTING THAT USE HAS BEEN RECORDED FOR IT. 

A contributor's warranty that they hold the necessary rights is not sufficient on its own. Before any patient image is made available outside HCE², the record must show the authorization relied on, its scope, and its source. Images without that record may be retained for internal accreditation, archival, and educational purposes only, and are excluded from external products by default. 

If you are a patient, or a clinician acting for a patient, and you believe an image of that patient is held or used by us without authorization, write to imagerights@hcesquared.com. We will suspend external use of the image while we investigate and will remove it where authorization cannot be shown. 

11.5   De-identification 

Where we hold clinical images or case material, we remove direct identifiers and identifying metadata before any external use, and we do not attempt to re-identify anyone. We require the same of licensees by contract, and we prohibit them from using licensed material to attempt re-identification or to make decisions about an individual patient. 

11.6   Independence 

Material produced under commercial support is excluded from external knowledge licensing. Licensing revenue does not influence the selection, content, or accreditation of education on the Platform. 

ARTICLE 12 · THIRD PARTIES, SPONSORS, AND EXHIBITORS 

12.1   Links and third-party content 

The Platform links to sites and resources we do not control. We do not endorse them, we are not responsible for them, and your dealings with them are between you and them. 

12.2   Sponsored and promotional content is labeled 

Advertising, sponsored content, and non-accredited promotional programs are identified as such and are separated from accredited education. Sponsors do not control accredited content; § 6.2 governs. 

12.3   Exhibitors and badge scanning 

At in-person and virtual events, allowing an exhibitor to scan your badge or QR code, entering a prize draw, or downloading an exhibitor's material transfers your registration information — typically name, degree, specialty, institution, and business contact details — to that exhibitor, who then handles it under its own privacy policy and may contact you. Scanning is voluntary and within your control. We tell you at the point of scan what is transferred. 

12.4   Third-party platforms 

Some functionality is delivered through third-party systems — learning management, polling, video hosting, virtual event, and payment platforms. Their terms and privacy notices apply to your use of them alongside these Terms. 

ARTICLE 13 · CONFERENCES AND EVENTS 

13.1   Registration 

Event registration is subject to these Terms and to the terms published on the registration page for that event, including its fee, cancellation, substitution, and transfer rules. Badges are personal and non-transferable. 

13.2   Photography and recording at events 

We record. We photograph, film, and audio-record our events for reporting, archival, educational, and promotional purposes. By attending, you agree that we may capture and use your image and voice in general audience footage and in photographs of sessions and exhibition areas. 

This does not extend to using your name, likeness, or voice to endorse a commercial product or a sponsor, which needs your written consent under § 8.4, nor to any synthetic or digitally generated likeness, which needs the specific consent described in the same clause. 

We post notice at registration and at the entrance to recorded rooms. If you would rather not be featured, tell event staff or write to events@hcesquared.com before or during the event and we will make reasonable efforts to accommodate you, including seating away from camera positions. 

You may not record. Attendees may not photograph, film, or audio-record sessions, presentations, or slide content, or livestream from them, without our prior written permission. Faculty material is the presenter's work and much of it is unpublished. 

Recording of faculty is governed by the presenter's own agreement and release, and by § 8.3. 

13.3   Code of conduct 

Our event code of conduct applies at all in-person and virtual events. We may remove attendees who breach it without refund. 

13.4   Program changes 

Faculty, agenda, format, and venue may change. Where an event is canceled by us, the cancellation terms on the registration page govern. 

ARTICLE 14 · FEES, SUBSCRIPTIONS, AND CANCELLATION 

14.1   Fees 

Where the Platform or an activity carries a fee, the fee, currency, and billing period are shown before you buy. You authorize us to charge the payment method you provide, plus applicable taxes, and you agree to keep that payment information current. 

14.2   Auto-renewing subscriptions 

Subscriptions renew automatically at the then-current price until canceled. Before you buy we present the renewal terms clearly and separately, and we obtain your affirmative consent to them. We send a renewal reminder at least 7 days before each renewal for annual terms. You can cancel online, in your account settings, in no more steps than it took to subscribe. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period and you keep access until then. 

14.3   Price changes 

We may change subscription prices on at least 30 days' notice. Changes take effect at the start of the next billing period. If you do not accept a change, cancel before it takes effect. 

14.4   Refunds — one rule 

Subscription fees are refundable in full if you cancel within 5 days of the initial purchase and have not claimed continuing education credit during that period. After that, fees are not refundable and there are no credits for partial periods, except where the law requires a refund or where § 4.4 applies. Event registration refunds are governed by the cancellation terms on the registration page. Requests: membership@hcesquared.com. 

14.5   Taxes 

Prices exclude taxes unless stated. You are responsible for any taxes other than those on our income. 

ARTICLE 15 · SUSPENSION AND TERMINATION 

15.1   By you 

Close your account at any time in your settings or by writing to us. Article 14 governs any fees already paid. 

15.2   By us 

We may suspend or terminate your access if you breach these Terms, if we cannot verify your credentials under § 2.3, if your continued access would create legal or accreditation risk, or if we discontinue the Platform. Except where immediate action is needed to prevent harm, protect the Platform, or comply with law, we will give you notice and, where the breach can be cured, a reasonable chance to cure it. 

15.3   What survives 

Termination does not affect accrued rights. Your continuing education records are retained under § 6.6. Articles 5, 7, 8 (as to licenses that survive under § 8.2), 13, 14, 15, and 16 survive termination. 

ARTICLE 16 · DISCLAIMERS 

16.1   THE PLATFORM, ALL CONTENT AND FUNCTIONALITY MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH IT, ALL CME AND ACCREDITED ACTIVITIES, CLINICAL MATERIALS, CREATION TOOL OUTPUT, AUTOMATED ASSESSMENTS, AND ALL THIRD-PARTY SERVICES ARE PROVIDED “AS IS,” “AS AVAILABLE,” AND “WITH ALL FAULTS.” 

16.2   TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, AND EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY STATED IN THESE TERMS OR IN A SIGNED AGREEMENT, HCE² DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, QUIET ENJOYMENT, AND ACCURACY, AND ANY WARRANTIES ARISING FROM A COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE. 

16.3   What we do not disclaim 

Nothing in this Article limits our obligations as an accredited provider, our obligations under a signed agreement, or any liability that cannot be excluded by law. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain exclusions, and to that extent they do not apply to you. 

16.4   NO MEDICAL ADVICE OR CLINICAL GUIDANCE. THE PLATFORM, INCLUDING ITS CONTENT, CME AND ACCREDITED ACTIVITIES, CLINICAL MATERIALS, CREATION TOOL OUTPUT, AND AUTOMATED ASSESSMENTS, IS NOT MEDICAL ADVICE, CLINICAL GUIDANCE, A DIAGNOSIS, OR A TREATMENT RECOMMENDATION; IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR YOUR INDEPENDENT PROFESSIONAL JUDGMENT; DOES NOT CREATE A CLINICIAN–PATIENT RELATIONSHIP; AND DOES NOT ESTABLISH OR DEFINE A STANDARD OF CARE. ARTICLE 5 APPLIES. 

16.5   NO WARRANTY AS TO CONTENT OR CME CREDIT. HCE² MAKES NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY THAT USER-GENERATED CONTENT, FACULTY OPINIONS, ADVERTISING, SPONSOR MATERIALS, OR THIRD-PARTY MATERIALS OR LINKS ARE ACCURATE, COMPLETE, RELIABLE, CURRENT, OR TIMELY. HCE² DOES NOT WARRANT THAT ANY CME OR OTHER CREDIT WILL BE ACCEPTED BY ANY PARTICULAR BOARD, LICENSING BODY, OR EMPLOYER, OR THAT ANY ACTIVITY WILL SATISFY ANY SPECIFIC LICENSURE, CERTIFICATION, OR CREDENTIALING REQUIREMENT. 

16.6   NO WARRANTY AS TO OPERATION OR DATA. HCE² DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE PLATFORM OR ANY THIRD-PARTY SERVICE WILL OPERATE WITHOUT INTERRUPTION, DELAY, OR ERROR; WILL BE SECURE OR FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS; OR WILL PRESERVE OR PREVENT THE LOSS OF ANY DATA. HCE² DOES NOT WARRANT THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED. 

16.7   SOLE RISK; NO WARRANTY FROM ADVICE. YOUR USE OF THE PLATFORM, ITS CONTENT, ANY CME OR ACCREDITED ACTIVITY, ANY CREATION TOOL OUTPUT OR AUTOMATED ASSESSMENT, AND ANY THIRD-PARTY SERVICE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION, WHETHER ORAL OR WRITTEN, OBTAINED FROM HCE² OR THROUGH THE PLATFORM CREATES ANY WARRANTY NOT EXPRESSLY STATED IN THESE TERMS. 

16.8   PROTECTED PERSONS. THE DISCLAIMERS AND WARRANTY EXCLUSIONS IN THIS ARTICLE EXTEND TO HCE²’S AFFILIATES, JOINT PROVIDERS, LICENSORS, FACULTY, AND SERVICE PROVIDERS. 

ARTICLE 17 · LIMITATION OF LIABILITY AND INDEMNITY 

17.1   TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, NEITHER PARTY WILL BE LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS, LOST REVENUE, LOST GOODWILL, OR LOST DATA, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE PLATFORM, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT, OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY. 

17.2   Cap 

OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS AND THE PLATFORM WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNTS YOU PAID US IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM, OR (B) $500. 

17.3   What the cap does not cover 

§§ 17.1 and 17.2 do not apply to: our indemnification obligations or liability caps agreed in a signed agreement under § 1.4; either party's gross negligence, wilful misconduct, or fraud; your breach of Article 4; or any liability that cannot be limited by law. 

17.4   Your indemnity 

You will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless HCE² and its officers, directors, employees, and agents from third-party claims, and from resulting losses, damages, and reasonable legal fees, to the extent arising from: your breach of these Terms; Your Content; your submission of protected health information in breach of § 5.6; your professional conduct or clinical decisions; or your infringement of another's rights. We will notify you promptly of any such claim, give you control of the defense (subject to our approval of any settlement affecting us), and cooperate at your expense. 

ARTICLE 18 · DISPUTE RESOLUTION 

18.1   PLEASE READ THIS ARTICLE CAREFULLY. IT AFFECTS YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS, INCLUDING YOUR RIGHT TO BRING OR TAKE PART IN A LAWSUIT IN COURT AND YOUR RIGHT TO A JURY TRIAL. 

18.2   Informal resolution first 

Before starting a formal proceeding, the party raising a dispute must send the other a written description of it — the claimant's name and contact details, the account email if any, the nature and basis of the claim, and the specific relief sought — to legal@hcesquared.com. The parties will then negotiate in good faith for sixty (60) days. This is a condition precedent to arbitration or litigation, and limitation periods are tolled while it runs. 

18.3   Binding individual arbitration 

If informal resolution fails, either party may elect binding arbitration as the sole means of resolving the dispute, subject to § 18.7. This agreement to arbitrate is made in a transaction involving interstate commerce and is governed by the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. §§ 1–16. It covers all disputes arising out of or relating to these Terms, the Platform, or the relationship between the parties, on any legal theory. 

18.4   Class and collective waiver 

ARBITRATION WILL BE CONDUCTED IN AN INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY ONLY. NEITHER PARTY MAY BRING A CLASS, COLLECTIVE, CONSOLIDATED, OR REPRESENTATIVE ACTION, AND THE ARBITRATOR MAY AWARD RELIEF ONLY TO THE INDIVIDUAL PARTY SEEKING IT. ARBITRATIONS MAY BE CONSOLIDATED ONLY WITH HCESQUARED, LLC'S WRITTEN CONSENT. 

If this § 18.4 is held invalid or unenforceable in whole or in part, the invalid portion will be severed and the remainder of this Article 18 will continue in force. 

18.5   Rules, forum, and procedure 

Arbitration will be administered by the American Arbitration Association before a single arbitrator under its Commercial Arbitration Rules, excluding any rule permitting class or representative proceedings. The seat will be a location within 100 miles of your residence or place of business, or another location the parties agree. Where the amount in controversy is under $25,000 and no injunctive or declaratory relief is sought, the arbitration will be decided on documents unless the arbitrator orders a hearing. Hearings are by video or telephone unless the parties agree otherwise. The arbitrator applies the law chosen in § 19.1 and applicable limitation periods, may award any relief a court could award to an individual, and will issue a reasoned award. Judgment may be entered on the award in any court of competent jurisdiction. 

18.6   Fees 

Each party bears its own legal fees unless the rules or applicable law provide otherwise. If you show that arbitration costs would be prohibitive compared with litigation, we will pay filing and hearing fees above $250 that the arbitrator finds necessary to prevent that, unless the arbitrator finds your claim frivolous or brought in bad faith. 

18.7   Carve-outs 

Either party may bring an individual claim in small claims court within that court's jurisdiction; bring an action in court to protect intellectual property rights (patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets, but not privacy or publicity rights); and seek temporary or preliminary injunctive relief in a court of competent jurisdiction pending arbitration. Doing so does not waive the right to arbitrate. 

18.8   Your right to opt out 

You may opt out of this Article 18 by sending written notice with the subject line "ARBITRATION OPT-OUT" to legal@hcesquared.com within thirty (30) days of the date you first accept these Terms. Include your name and the email address on your account. Opting out does not affect any other part of these Terms, and we will not treat it adversely. If you opt out, disputes are resolved in court under §§ 19.1–19.2, and the jury waiver in § 18.10 does not apply to you. 

18.9   Changes to this Article 

We will give thirty (30) days' notice of any material change to this Article 18. Changes apply only to claims that have not been filed and that accrue after the change takes effect, and a fresh thirty-day opt-out window under § 18.8 opens on the effective date of the change. 

18.10   Jury trial waiver 

IF FOR ANY REASON A DISPUTE PROCEEDS IN COURT RATHER THAN ARBITRATION, EACH PARTY KNOWINGLY AND IRREVOCABLY WAIVES ANY RIGHT TO A TRIAL BY JURY. 

ARTICLE 19 · GENERAL 

19.1   Governing law 

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of South Carolina, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules, and the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. §§ 1–16, governs Article 18. 

19.2   Venue 

For disputes not subject to arbitration, the parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state courts located in York County, South Carolina, and the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, Rock Hill Division, and waive any objection to personal jurisdiction or venue in those courts. 

19.3   Entire agreement 

These Terms and the documents in § 1.3 are the entire agreement between you and HCE² on their subject matter and supersede prior agreements on that subject matter — subject always to § 1.4. 

19.4   Order of precedence 

Where documents conflict, the order is: (1) a signed agreement under § 1.4; (2) a privacy notice, as to matters it is required by law to address; (3) these Terms; (4) event- or activity-specific terms; (5) the other documents in § 1.3. 

19.5   Severability 

If any provision of these Terms is held invalid, illegal, or unenforceable by a court or arbitrator of competent jurisdiction, that provision will be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable, or if it cannot be so modified, severed; and the remaining provisions will continue in full force and effect. Section 18.4 is the sole exception and is governed by its own terms. 

19.6   No waiver 

Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it. 

19.7   Assignment 

You may not assign these Terms. We may assign them to an affiliate or in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, on notice to you. 

19.8   Force majeure 

Neither party is liable for delay or failure caused by events beyond its reasonable control, including natural disaster, public health emergency, war, civil unrest, labor action, utility or network failure, and government action. This does not excuse payment obligations already accrued. 

19.9   Notices 

We give notice by email to the address on your account, by posting in the Platform, or by post. You give notice to legal@hcesquared.com. Notice is effective on receipt, or on the business day after sending if by email. 

19.10   Export and sanctions 

You represent that you are not located in, and are not a national or resident of, a country subject to comprehensive U.S. sanctions, and that you are not on any U.S. restricted-party list. 

19.11   U.S. government users 

The Platform is "commercial computer software" under FAR 12.212 and DFARS 227.7202; government users take only the rights granted here. 

19.12   Accessibility 

We work to conform the Platform to WCAG [2.2] Level AA. If you encounter a barrier, tell us at accessibility@hcesquared.com and we will work with you to provide the content or function in an accessible way. 

19.13   Contact 

General and legal: legal@hcesquared.com. Privacy and data rights: privacy@hcesquared.com. Copyright: copyright@hcesquared.com. Accreditation and credit: cme@hcesquared.com.  

19.14   Interpretation 

Headings are for convenience. "Including" means "including without limitation." References to statutes and rules include their successors. 

SCHEDULE A · COVERED PROPERTIES 

A.1   These Terms apply to the following properties and their subdomains, together with our mobile applications, event platforms, and official social media presences. 

A.2   Journal properties carry separate terms covering author submission and warranties, peer-review confidentiality, the open-access license granted to readers, copyright retention by authors, corrections and retractions, and the labeling of sponsored supplements and reprints. Those terms apply to submission and publication and control over these Terms as to those matters. 

SCHEDULE B · CREDIT REPORTING RECIPIENTS 

SCHEDULE C · DEFINITIONS 

C.1   HCP — § 2.1. Platform — § 1.2. Your Content — § 8.1. Creation Tool, Source Material, Automated Assessment, Connected Account — § 9.1. Ineligible company — as defined in the ACCME Standards for Integrity and Independence. Protected health information — 45 C.F.R. § 160.103. Sale, share, targeted advertising, sensitive personal information, profiling, and consumer health data — as defined in the applicable state privacy statute.