Terms of Use

 

DO NOT USE THIS SERVICE FOR EMERGENCY MEDICAL NEEDS. IF YOU EXPERIENCE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY, CALL 911 IMMEDIATELY.

 

IF YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT SUICIDE OR IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING TAKING ACTIONS THAT MAY CAUSE HARM TO YOU OR TO OTHERS OR IF YOU FEEL THAT YOU OR ANY OTHER PERSON MAY BE IN ANY DANGER OR IF YOU HAVE ANY MEDICAL EMERGENCY, YOU MUST IMMEDIATELY CALL THE EMERGENCY SERVICE NUMBER AND NOTIFY THE RELEVANT AUTHORITIES.

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Please read these Terms of Use carefully ("Terms"). These Terms govern and apply to your access and use of the communication platform offered ASD Social, ASD Social services and any information, text, graphics, photos or other materials uploaded, downloaded or appearing on the Service (collectively referred to as "Content"). By accessing or using the Service, you agree to comply with and to be bound by all of the terms and conditions described in these Terms. If you do not agree to all of these terms and conditions, you are not authorized to use the Service. The terms “You", "Your,” and “Yourself” refer to the individual user of the Service.

 

You hereby certify that you are (i) over the age of eighteen (18) or have the legal ability to consent to ASD Social Services or have your Parent/Guardian consent to a Specialist, and (ii) physically located or are a resident of the State or Country you have chosen as your current residency when creating your Account. You agree to provide “Contact Information” (your personal contact and/or a close family member/relation) to your Specialist to act as an information source to be used in case of a mental health crisis or other emergency where knowledge of your location is crucial. You acknowledge that your ability to access and use the Service is conditioned upon the truthfulness of the information you provide regarding your age, residence and Contact Information and that the Providers you access (“Provider(s)”) are relying upon this certification in order to interact with you and provide the Services.

 

Site Content

Other than the guidance and advice you receive directly by you from your licensed Provider, other educational, graphics, research sources and other incidental information on the Site, the Content, should not be considered medical advice. You should always talk to an appropriately qualified health care professional for diagnosis and treatment, including information regarding which medications or treatment may be appropriate for you. None of the Content represents or warrants that any particular medication or treatment is safe, appropriate, or effective for you. Talkspace does not endorse any specific tests, medications, products or procedures.

 

Account Enrollment

To access the Services, you must first enroll to establish an individual user account (“Account”), by providing certain information. You agree that you will not create more than one Account, or create an Account for anyone other than yourself without first receiving permission from the other person. In exchange for your use of the Service and, if applicable, in order for providers to send notices to you, you agree to: (i)provide true, accurate, current and complete information about yourself as prompted by our Account enrollment form (understanding you may use an anonymous user name or nickname after you provide certain personal and emergency Contact Information); and (ii) each time you log on, maintain and promptly update such Account information to keep it true, accurate, current and complete. If you provide any information that is untrue, inaccurate, not current or incomplete, or ASD Social has reasonable grounds to suspect that such Account information is untrue, inaccurate, not current or incomplete, ASD Social reserves the right to transition your treatment to another Provider outside of ASD Social and refuse any future request(s) to use the ASD Social site. You shall at all times remain responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your Account password and username (if any) and any other security information related to your Account. ASD Social will not be liable for any loss that you incur as a result of someone else accessing and using your Account, either with or without your knowledge.

 

Accounts Accessed through Employer Assistance Programs (EAP(s)) or other Network Benefit Programs

 

In addition to the registration described above, access to the Services through an EAP or an Employer sponsored benefit plan or other insurance backed plans may require you to provide additional registration information. This information is collected to confirm your eligibility with the EAP or network benefit administrator and is not shared with your Provider (who will collect your contact information separately). Further, your Employer or the Employer of the subscriber of your benefits will not be provided this information (you likely already gave them similar information in your employee file unless you are a family member of an eligible employee) and your employer will not be told you or your family member are using the Services unless such information is shared by you or part of a pre-arranged special program. Information collected under these circumstances will include but not be limited to:

 

First Name

Last Name

Email

Date of Birth

Phone number

Who you are (employee or the spouse, domestic partner, or dependent of an employee in certain programs)

Employer’s name

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This information is required to confirm program or benefit eligibility, your specific benefits, and to prevent insurance and benefit fraud.
 

Acceptable Use

 

You agree not to access or use the Service in an unlawful way or for an unlawful or illegitimate purpose or in any manner that contravenes these terms. You shall not post, use, store or transmit(i) a message or information under a false name; (ii) information that is unlawful, libelous, defamatory, obscene, fraudulent, predatory of minors, harassing, threatening or hateful to any person; or (iii) information that infringes or violates any of the intellectual property rights of others or the privacy or publicity rights of others. You shall not attempt to disrupt the operation of the Service by any method, including through the use of viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time bombs, denial of service attacks, flooding or spamming. You shall not use the Service in any manner that could damage, disable or impair the Service. You shall not attempt to gain unauthorized access to any user accounts or computer systems or networks, through hacking, password mining or any other means. You shall not use any robot, scraper or other means to access the Service for any purpose. Neither ASD Social nor its affiliates are under any obligation to respond to messages posted on the Service. You are solely responsible for the information or material you post on the Service.

 

Payment

 

Any payment you make for the use of the Services is used to compensate ASD Social for its software development, overhead, administrative services and other corporate costs and fees, including transaction fees for credit card usage.

 

‍The ASD Social Network Providers practicing through the Platform also compensate for the use of the ASD Social technology and for administrative fees. Part of your payment for the use of the Services, accounted for separately, is remitted to the Provider for the direct clinical services provided to you. ASD Social does not participate, split, or take a percentage of this payment to the Provider. Regardless of any payments made, ASD Social does not hold itself out as your direct provider of therapy services as that is the role of your ASD Specialist. You agree to pay all fees and charges associated with your Account on a timely basis in accordance with the fee schedule, and the terms and rates published by ASD Social from time to time. Such fees and charges (including any taxes and late fees, as applicable) may be charged to the credit card you provided during the initial setup of your Account. You agree to maintain valid credit card information in your Account. By providing ASD Social with credit card information you authorize ASD Social to bill and charge your credit card.

 

If you access the Services through an EAP or an Employer sponsored benefit plan or other insurance backed plan, your payment will be arranged by a third party “Payor” which is a third party that administers or insures the benefit program you are a member of through your employer. In this instance, you may still be responsible for co-payment or payment for additional services which are explained in your benefit program.

 

In order to receive approval to practice using the ASD Social Network, the applying Provider must be found to be in compliance with the policies and procedures of ASD Social and federal and state guidelines, and must receive approval from ASD Social. This verification process includes, but is not limited to:

 

‍Verification of licensure. The practitioner holds a valid, current license to practice which is verified directly from the state license agency.

Verification of proper education and degree.

Verification of board certification for practitioners that state they are board certified.

Verification of a minimum of five years work history and confirmation that the Provider can practice independently at the highest applicable state level of licensure.

Verification of any applicable specialized training. Written verification is needed for the completion of any specialized training the practitioner has received from the school or training program that provided the training.

Verification of any Medicare and Medicaid sanctions.

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Your relationship with the Provider is strictly with the Provider. ASD Social is not involved in the Provider-patient relationship and does not interfere, validate or control the Provider’s treatment unless advocating on behalf of You when following up on a particular complaint.You are always advised to exercise a high level of care and caution in the use of ASD Social Network of Providers as you would make any mental health or medical decisions. You should never disregard, avoid, or delay obtaining medical advice from your primary doctor or other qualified healthcare Provider or by using or combining ASD Social with traditional face-to-face appointments; solely because of information you saw on the ASD Social site or advice you received through an ASD Social Network Provider. ASD Social supports a holistic approach to mental health and the choices You have to create the best therapeutic journey that matches your individual needs.

 

Intellectual Property

All of the content available on or through the Service is the property of ASD Social or its licensors and is protected by copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret and other intellectual property law. You agree not to reproduce, retransmit, distribute, disseminate, sell, publish, broadcast, or circulate the content received through the Service to any third party. All software and accompanying documentation made available for download from the Service is the copyrighted work of ASD Social or its licensors. Any copy made of information obtained through the Service must include all applicable copyright notices.

 

"ASD Social" is a copyrighted term. All rights reserved. Subject to the terms of this Agreement, ASD Social hereby grants you a limited, revocable, non transferable and non-exclusive license to use the website, network facilities, content and documentation on and in the Service to the extent, and only to the extent necessary to access and use the Service.

 

The license granted herein does not permit you to, and you agree not to: (i) modify, translate, reverse engineer, disassemble, decompile or create derivative works of the Service or allow a third party, whether directly or indirectly (including, but not limited to the direct or indirect use of wizards, agents, bots, or other utilities), to modify, translate, reverse engineer, disassemble, decompile or create derivative works of the Service; or (ii) transfer, distribute, sell, lease, rent, disclose or provide access to the Service to any third party or use the Service to provide service bureau, time sharing or other services to third parties.

 

Disclaimers

ACCESS TO THE SERVICE AND THE INFORMATION CONTAINED THEREIN IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE PURSUANT TO APPLICABLE LAW, ASD SOCIAL DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF TITLE, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT.

 

WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, ASD SOCIAL DOES NOT WARRANT THAT ACCESS TO THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, OR THAT DEFECTS, IF ANY, WILL BE CORRECTED. YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE THAT YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE AND YOUR RELIANCE UPON ANY OF ITS CONTENTS IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK.

 

YOU SHALL BE SOLELY AND FULLY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO THE SERVICE OR ANY COMPUTER SYSTEM, ANY LOSS OF DATA, OR ANY IMPROPER USE OR DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION ON THE SERVICE CAUSED BY YOU OR ANY PERSON USING YOUR USERNAME OR PASSWORD. TALKSPACE CANNOT AND DOES NOT ASSUME ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY LOSS, DAMAGES OR LIABILITIES ARISING FROM THE FAILURE OF ANY TELECOMMUNICATIONS INFRASTRUCTURE, OR THE INTERNET, OR FOR YOUR MISUSE OF ANY PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION, ADVICE, IDEAS, INFORMATION, INSTRUCTIONS OR GUIDELINES ACCESSED THROUGH THE SERVICE.

 

Limitations of Liability

IN THE EVENT OF ANY PROBLEM WITH THE SERVICE OR ANY OF ITS CONTENT, YOU AGREE THAT YOUR SOLE REMEDY IS TO CEASE USING THE SERVICE. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL ASD Social, ANY ASD Social LICENSOR OR SUPPLIER, OR ANY THIRD PARTY WHO PROMOTES THE SERVICE OR PROVIDES YOU WITH A LINK TO THE SERVICE BE LIABLE IN ANY WAY FOR YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE OR ANY OF ITS CONTENT, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY ERRORS OR OMISSIONS IN ANYCONTENT, ANY INFRINGEMENT BY ANY CONTENT OF THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS OR OTHER RIGHTS OF THIRD PARTIES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE OF ANY KIND INCURRED AS A RESULT OF THE USE OF ANY CONTENT.

 

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL ASD Social, ITS LICENSORS OR SUPPLIERS OF NON-MEDICAL/ MENTAL HEALTHCARE SERVICES OR ANY THIRD PARTY WHO PROMOTES THE SERVICE OR PROVIDES YOU WITH A LINK TO THE SERVICE, BE LIABLE FOR ANY PUNITIVE, EXEMPLARY, CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT OR SPECIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY PERSONAL INJURY, LOST PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF PROGRAMS OR OTHER DATA ON YOUR COMPUTER OR OTHERWISE) ARISING FROM OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE, WHETHER UNDER A THEORY OF BREACH OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, MALPRACTICE OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF TALKSPACE OR THEY HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

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Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties or the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages, so the limitations above may not apply to you.

 

Hyperlinks

Any link (including a hyperlink, button or referral device of any kind) used in the Service is provided for your use and convenience. The appearance of a link does not constitute an endorsement, recommendation or certification by ASD Social, nor should the presence of a link in any way be construed as a suggestion that any third party website has any relationship to ASD Social. ASD Social does not endorse the content on any third-party websites. ASD Social is not responsible for the content of linked third-party websites or third-party advertisements, and does not make any representations regarding its content or accuracy. ASD Social does not knowingly link to websites that may infringe on valid and existing trademarks, service marks, copyrights or patents. Your use of third-party websites is at your own risk and subject to the terms and conditions of use for such websites.

 

Termination

ASD Social may suspend or terminate your access to the Service at any time, for any reason or for no reason at all. ASD Social has the right (but not the obligation) to refuse to provide access to the Service to any person, agency or organization at any time, for any reason or for no reason at all, in our sole discretion. ASD Social reserves the right to change, suspend, or discontinue all or part of the Service, temporarily or permanently, without prior notice.

 

Privacy

You affirmatively consent to the fact that ASD Social’s Clinical Oversight Personnel will, as needed, review your particular "Session Transcripts" or "Rooms" in a HIPAA/HITECH approved de-identified form for the following purposes:

 

‍During your on-boarding and during the Provider matching process to ascertain you are able to successfully engage with the Provider. This access to only de-identified information may be accomplished using an ASD Social on-boarding specialist and not a Provider;

To review your complaint about a particular issue/instance that your report about your Provider or about a particular language intention with your Provider;

For your safety concerns or complaints of unethical Provider practices;

To transition you to a new Provider or if your account is non responsive or inactive for an extended period of time; or

To address raised quality assurance concern(s) that may apply to an individual Provider, a state-wide compliance issue or a national network issue.

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You consent to ASD Social using "Meta Data" and other search terms to scan only HIPAA ‘Safe Harbor” de-identified transcripts to search for trends and patterns that may affect the quality of the Services provided to you or the practices of the Providers. If your particular complaint requires a review of Session Transcripts in the original form, you consent to an ASD Social Licensed Oversight Provider accessing your account only to respond to your particular complaint or raised issue.

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Your Consent to ASD Social recording your calls to Customer Service to assure Quality Assurance.

 

You affirmatively grant ASD Social permission to have your Provider periodically provide non-content based clinical assessments of your progress to ASD Social. You understand that ASD Social provides the Providers with clinical assessment tools that serve to provide information on your mental health and well-being; and that results can be seen by your Provider to discuss with you.

 

All de-identified data, meta-data and research data collected by ASD Social through your use of the Services remains the sole property of ASD Social. ASD Social may share some or all of this research data with third parties in connection with joint or outside research, analytics, or similar purposes. Research data is used in non identifiable aggregate form, that is, as a statistical measure, but not in a manner that would identify you personally. You shall not request that ASD Social remove or delete any of such data.

 

You agree that the email username you provide can be used by ASD Social to send you marketing offers from ASD Social.

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You acknowledge that ASD Social must store all personal data as required by law, typically for no less than seven (7) years, and may not delete such medical records data, even upon your direct request.

 

Special Programs

ASD Social participates in research studies with select universities. You may be offered the opportunity to participate in these studies. These studies may include separate agreement forms, waivers and confidentiality terms that you will have to review and accept separate from these Terms.

 

ASD Social MAKES NO WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. CERTAIN STATE LAWS DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS ON IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF CERTAIN DAMAGES. IF THESE LAWS APPLY TO YOU, SOME OR ALL OF THE ABOVE DISCLAIMERS, EXCLUSIONS, OR LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU, AND YOU MAY HAVE ADDITIONAL RIGHTS.

 

Disputes

Any dispute or claim relating in any way to your use of the ASD Social Service will be resolved by binding confidential arbitration, rather than in court. The Federal Arbitration Act and federal arbitration law apply to these Terms.

 

There is no judge or jury in arbitration, and court review of an arbitration award is limited. However, an arbitrator can award on an individual basis the same damages and relief as a court (including injunctive and declaratory relief or statutory damages), and must interpret these Terms as a court would.

 

It is agreed that any dispute resolution proceedings will be conducted only on an individual basis and not in a class, consolidated or representative action. If for any reason a claim proceeds in court rather than in arbitration, ASD Social and you each waive any right to a jury trial. It is further agreed that you may not bring suit in court to enjoin infringement or other misuse of intellectual property rights.

 

General

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Mass., without regard to any conflict of laws rules or principles. You agree to submit to the venue and jurisdiction of the Massachusetts courts in the cases that arbitration is not successful or is assigned or appealed to a civil court. ASD Social failure to enforce any right or provision of these Terms will not be considered a waiver of those rights. If any provision of these Terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable by a court, the remaining provisions of these Terms will remain in effect. Notices required to be given to you by ASD Social may be delivered by electronic mail to the address provided during the creation of your Account. These Terms constitute the entire Agreement between ASD Social and yourself regarding the Service, and supersede and replace any prior agreements you and ASD Social might have regarding the Service. ASD Social may revise these Terms from time to time without notice to you. By continuing to access or use our Service after those revisions become effective, you agree to be bound by the revised terms. We encourage you to read the stems periodically.

 

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These Terms of Use were last updated on November 20, 2019 and are deemed effective as amended as of this date.