Terms of Use

Effective Date: 5/17/2022

Introduction

Welcome to our Terms of Use page.  These are our terms and conditions for the use of our website, which you (hereinafter also referred to as “You” and “User”) may access in several ways, including, but not limited to, the internet, via www.smpresource.org, tablet, mobile phone, and RSS feeds.

 

“Our website” means the digital information network operated by, or on behalf of, the Senior Medicare Patrol National Resource Center (hereinafter referred to as “we” or “us” the “Company”, or the “SMP Center”).  

 

The SMP Center is funded in part by a grant (No. 90MPRC0002) from the Administration for Community Living (ACL), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).  We (are governed or operated by) Northeast Iowa Area Agency on Aging, Inc. (herein after referred to as (“NEI3A”). NEI3A is a private, non-profit corporation that governs the SMP Center to coordinate services and programs for older persons in an effort to respond to their evolving needs and choices by having access to supports that empower them to live with choice and dignity in their communities.

 

SMPs are grant-funded projects of the federal U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), U.S. Administration for Community Living (ACL). Grantees carrying out projects under government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their findings and conclusions. Therefore, points of view or opinions do not necessarily represent official ACL or DHHS policy.

 

About Terms of Use 

The Terms of Use governs your use of our website (the "Agreement").  Your use of our website constitutes your consent to follow, and be bound by, the Agreement.  We reserve the right to update or modify this Agreement at any time. 

 

Acceptance of Terms of Use

These Terms of Use are entered into between you and the SMP Center.  The following terms and conditions, together govern your access to and use of www.smpresource.org, including any content, functionality, and services offered on or through our website, whether as a guest or registered user.

 

Please read the Terms of Use carefully before you start to use our website.  By clicking to accept or agree to the Terms of Use when this option is made available to you, you accept and agree to be bound and abide by these Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, which can be found here, incorporated herein by reference.  If you do not want to agree to these Terms of Use (or Privacy Policy), you must not access or use our website.

 

Our website is offered and available to adult users, 18 years of age or older, that reside in the United States or any of its territories or possessions.  By using our website, you represent and warrant that you are of legal age to form a binding contract with the SMP Center and meet all of the foregoing eligibility requirements.  If you do not meet all of these requirements, you must not access or use our website.

 

The following Terms and Conditions govern your use of our Website:

 

Updates to the Terms of Use and/or Privacy Policy

We may revise and update these Terms of Use as needed and in our sole discretion.  Any changes are effective immediately when we post them and apply to all access to, and use of, our website.  Any changes to the provisions set out in the “Dispute Resolution, Governing Law, and Jurisdiction” section of the Privacy Policy will not apply to any disputes for which the parties have actual notice on or before the date the change is posted on our website.

Your continued use of our website following the posting of a revised or updated Terms of Use means that you accept and agree to the changes.  You are expected to check this page so that you are aware of any changes as they are binding on you.

 

Accessing Our Website and Account Security

We reserve the right to withdraw or amend our website, and any service or material we provide on our website, in our sole discretion, without notice.  We are not liable if, for any reason, all or any part of our website is unavailable at any time or for any period.  From time to time, we may restrict access to some parts of our website, or our entire website, to users, including registered users.

 

To access our website or some of the resources it offers, you may be asked to provide certain registration details or other information. It is a condition of your use of our website that all the information you provide on our website is correct, current, and complete. You agree that all information you provide to register with our website or otherwise, including, but not limited to, through the use of any interactive features on our website, is governed by our Privacy Policy (www.smpresource.org/Content/Privacy-Policy), and you agree to all actions we take with respect to your information consistent with our Privacy Policy.

If you choose, or are provided with, a username, password, or any other piece of information as part of our security procedures, you must treat such information as confidential, and you must not disclose it to any other person or entity. You also acknowledge that your account is personal to you and agree not to provide any other person with access to our website or portions of it using your username, password, or other security information. You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorized access to or use of your username or password or any other breach of security. You also agree to ensure that you exit or sign out from your account at the end of each session. You should use particular caution when accessing your account from a public or shared computer so that others are not able to view or record your password or any other personal information.

We have the right to disable any username, password, or other identifier, whether chosen by you or provided by us, at any time, in our sole discretion for any or no reason, including if, in our opinion, you have violated any provision of these Terms of Use.

 

Children Under 13 Years of Age

Our website is not designed nor intended for children or minors. Furthermore, our website is not intended for children under 13 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 and if we learn we have collected or received personal information from a child under 13 we will delete that information. If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under 13, please contact Nicole Liebau at info@smpresource.org.

 

Copyright and Other Intellectual Property Rights

Our website and its entire contents, features, and functionality is supported in part by a grant (No. 90MPRC0002) from the Administration for Community Living (ACL), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Grantees carrying out projects under government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their findings and conclusions. Therefore, points of view or opinions do not necessarily represent official ACL or DHHS policy.

The SMP name, logo, and all related names, logos, product and service names, designs, and slogans are property of the Administration for Community Living (ACL).  No one may use such marks without prior written permission. 

Unless otherwise noted, our website and its entire contents, features, and functionality (including but not limited to all information, software, text, displays, images, video, and audio, and the design, selection, and arrangement thereof) are owned by us, our licensors, Funder, Grantor, or other providers of such material and are protected by all applicable United States and international copyright, and other intellectual property or proprietary rights laws.

The SMP Center may provide products with links to copyrighted material. The SMP Center provides these links as a convenience and for informational purposes in our efforts to report and educate on Medicare fraud.  They do not constitute a guarantee, endorsement, or approval by the SMP Center of any of the information available on the external website. The SMP Center bears no responsibility for the accuracy, legality, or content of the external site or for subsequent links.

These Terms of Use permit individual users to use our website for their personal, non-commercial use only. Users may not reproduce, distribute, modify, create derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, republish, download, store, or transmit any of the material on our website, except as follows:

  • Your computer may temporarily store copies of such materials in RAM incidental to your accessing and viewing those materials;
  • You may store files that are automatically cached by your web browser for display enhancement purposes; and
  • If we provide social media features (www.smpresource.org, also Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram usernames) with certain content, you may take actions, such as sharing, as are enabled by such features.
  • You may post a hyperlink to a news article on our website with the identity of the source to the article; and
  • You may create your own headline in reference to the article being linked.

 

You may not delete or alter any copyright, or other proprietary rights notices from copies of materials from our website.

If you wish to make any use of material on our website other than that set out in this section, please address your request to: info@smpresource.org.

 

If you print, copy, modify, download, or otherwise use or provide any other person with access to any part of our website in breach of the Terms of Use, your right to use our website will stop immediately and you must, at our discretion, return or destroy any copies of the materials you have made at your expense.  No right, title, or interest in, or to our website, or any content on our website is transferred to you.  All rights not expressly granted are reserved by the SMP Center. Any use of our website not expressly permitted by these Terms of Use is a breach of these Terms of Use and may be a breach of state or Federal laws.

 

SMP Projects and Library Contributions

Our library may contain personal web pages or profiles, forums, bulletin boards, news articles, and other interactive features (collectively, “Interactive Services”) that serves as an exclusive resource for the SMP Center, individual SMP offices, and volunteers (“library users”). The SMP Center encourages library users that are approved to contribute content and materials to the library to do so. The SMP Center does not review materials before they are uploaded to our library.  As such, points of view and/or opinions in the materials and content do not necessarily represent official ACL or DHHS policy.

All contributions must comply with the Content Standards set out in these Terms of Use. Any submissions and contributions to our library will be considered non-confidential and non-proprietary. By providing content to our library, library users grant us and our affiliates, grantors, and service providers, and each of their, and our, respective licensees, successors, and assigns the right to use, reproduce, modify, perform, display, distribute, and otherwise disclose to third parties any such material for any purpose.

 

Prohibited Uses

You may use our website for lawful purposes only and in accordance with these Terms of Use. 

You agree not to use our website:

  • In any way that violates any applicable federal, state, local, or international law or regulation (including, without limitation, any laws regarding the export of data or software to and from the United States or other countries);
  • For the purpose of exploiting, harming, or attempting to exploit or harm minors in any way by exposing them to inappropriate content, asking for personally identifiable information, or otherwise;
  • To send, knowingly receive, upload, download, use, or re-use any material that does not comply with the Content Standards set out in these Terms of Use;
  • To transmit, or procure the sending of, any advertising or promotional material without our prior written consent, including any “junk mail,” “chain letter,” “spam,” or any other similar solicitation;
  • To impersonate or attempt to impersonate the SMP Center, an employee, a volunteer, another user, or any other person or entity including, without limitation, by using email addresses or screen names associated with any of the foregoing; or
  • To engage in any other conduct that restricts or inhibits anyone’s use or enjoyment of our website, or which, as determined by us, may harm the SMP Center or users of our website, or expose them to liability.

 

Additionally, you agree not to:

  • Use our website in any manner that could disable, overburden, damage, or impair our site or interfere with any other party’s use of our website, including their ability to engage in real time activities through our website;
  • Use any robot, spider, or other automatic device, process, or means to access our website for any purpose, including monitoring or copying any of the material on our website;
  • Use any manual process to monitor or copy any of the material on our website, or for any other purpose not expressly authorized in these Terms of Use, without our prior written consent;
  • Use any device, software, or routine that interferes with the proper working of our website;
  • Introduce any viruses, Trojan horses, worms, logic bombs, or other material that is malicious or technologically harmful;
  • Attempt to gain unauthorized access to, interfere with, damage, or disrupt any parts of our website, the server on which our website is stored, or any server, computer, or database connected to our website;
  • Attack our website via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of-service attack; or
  • Otherwise attempt to interfere with the proper working of our website.

 

Commit a Criminal Offense

In the event a user attempts or does use our website to commit a crime, the SMP Center will:

  • Disclose information about the user, including the user’s identity and other personal information, to law enforcement authorities; and
  • Immediately suspend or terminate the user’s right to use our website.

 

CDA and DMCA Compliance

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA) and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)

Under certain circumstances, The SMP Center must promptly remove any materials alleged to violate certain third-party rights (including any defamatory statements or infringing content) as soon as it becomes aware these materials are present in the library. In these circumstances, The SMP Center has the right, but is not obligated, to remove any user contributions from our website.

CDA and DMCA Violations

SMP reserves the right to terminate the accounts of repeat infringers that upload any materials alleged to violate the CDA and/or DMCA into our library.

SMP reserves the right to take necessary legal action and respond to and cooperate with actions by law enforcement and others, which may include disclosing a User’s identity or other information to law enforcement.

To report a suspicion of copyright infringement on our website, please do so using the contact information below:

  • To: Nicole Liebau
  • Mailing Address:  SMP National Resource Center, Northeast Iowa Area Agency on Aging, P.O. Box 388, Waterloo, Iowa 50702
  • Email: info@smpresource.org
  • Phone: 877-808-2468

Reliance on Information Posted

The information presented on or through our website is made available solely for general information purposes. We do not warrant the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of this information. Any reliance you place on such information is strictly at your own risk. We disclaim all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on such materials by you or any other visitor to our website, or by anyone who may be informed of any of its contents.

Our website includes content provided by third parties, including materials provided, created, or authored by other news agencies, bloggers, and third-party licensors, syndicators, aggregators, and/or reporting services. All statements and/or opinions expressed in these materials, and all articles and responses to questions and other content, other than the content provided by us, are solely the opinions and the responsibility of the person or entity providing those materials. These materials do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the SMP Center. We are not responsible, or liable to you or any third party, for the content or accuracy of any materials provided by any third parties.

Changes to Our Website

We may update the content on our website from as needed and in our sole discretion, but its content is not necessarily complete or up to date. Any of the material on our website may be out of date at any given time, and we are under no obligation to update such material.

Information about You and Your Use of Our Website

All information collected on our website is subject to our Privacy Policy. By using our website, you consent to all actions taken by us with respect to your information in compliance with our Privacy Policy.

Linking to Our Website and Social Media Features

You may link to our website homepage, provided you do so in a manner that is fair, legal and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it. You may not establish a link in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval, or endorsement on our part or behalf without our express written consent.

Our website may provide certain social media features that enable you to:

  • Link from your own or certain third-party websites to certain content on this website;
  • Send emails or other communications with certain content, or links to certain content, on this website; and/or
  • Cause limited portions of content on this website to be displayed or appear to be displayed on your own or certain third-party websites.

You may use these features solely as they are provided by us and solely with respect to the content they are displayed with, and otherwise, in accordance with any additional terms and conditions we provide with respect to such features.

Subject to the foregoing, you may not:

  • Establish a link from any website that is not owned by you;
  • Cause our website or portions of it to be displayed on, or appear to be displayed by, any other site, for example, framing, deep linking, or inline linking;
  • Linking to any part of our website other than the homepage; and/or
  • Otherwise take any action with respect to the materials on our website that is inconsistent with any other provision of our Terms of Use.

Our website from which you are linking or on which you make certain content accessible, must comply in all respects with the Content Standards set out in these Terms of Use.

You agree to cooperate with us in causing any unauthorized framing or linking immediately to stop. We reserve the right to withdraw linking permission at any time, without notice. We also may disable all or any social media features and any links at any time without notice in our discretion.

Links from Our Website

If our website contains links to third party websites and resources, these links are provided for your convenience and education only. This includes links contained in news articles and advertisements; including banner ads and sponsored links.  The SMP Center has no control over the contents or resources of those sites and accepts no responsibility for them or for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them.  If you decide to access any of the third-party websites linked to our website, you do so entirely at your own risk and subject to the terms and conditions of use for such websites.

 

The owner of this website is based in the State of Iowa in the United States.  Our website is for the use of persons over the age of 18 years old who are located in the United States.  We make no claims that our website or any of its content is accessible or appropriate outside of the United States.  Access to our website may not be legal by certain persons or in certain countries. If you access our website from outside of the United States, you do so on your own initiative and are responsible for compliance with federal, state, and local laws.

Disclaimer of Warranties

You understand that we cannot and do not guarantee or warrant that any files available for downloading from the internet or our website will be free of viruses or other destructive code. You are responsible for implementing sufficient procedures and checkpoints to satisfy your particular requirements for anti-virus protection and accuracy of data input and output, and for maintaining a means external to our website for any reconstruction of any lost data.

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PROVIDED BY LAW, WE WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE CAUSED BY A DISTRIBUTED DENIAL-OF-SERVICE ATTACK, VIRUSES, OR OTHER TECHNOLOGICALLY HARMFUL MATERIAL THAT MAY INFECT YOUR COMPUTER EQUIPMENT, COMPUTER PROGRAMS, DATA, OR OTHER PROPRIETARY MATERIAL DUE TO YOUR USE OF THE WEBSITE OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH OUR WEBSITE OR TO YOUR DOWNLOADING OF ANY MATERIAL POSTED ON IT, OR ON ANY WEBSITE LINKED TO IT.

YOUR USE OF OUR WEBSITE, ITS CONTENT, AND ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH OUR WEBSITE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. OUR WEBSITE, ITS CONTENT, AND ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH OUR WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS, WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. NEITHER THE COMPANY NOR ANY PERSON ASSOCIATED WITH THE COMPANY MAKES ANY WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION WITH RESPECT TO THE COMPLETENESS, SECURITY, RELIABILITY, QUALITY, ACCURACY, OR AVAILABILITY OF OUR WEBSITE. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, NEITHER THE COMPANY NOR ANYONE ASSOCIATED WITH THE COMPANY REPRESENTS OR WARRANTS THAT OUR WEBSITE, ITS CONTENT, OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH OUR WEBSITE WILL BE ACCURATE, RELIABLE, ERROR-FREE, OR UNINTERRUPTED, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, THAT OUR SITE OR THE SERVER THAT MAKES IT AVAILABLE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS, OR THAT OUR WEBSITE OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH OUR WEBSITE WILL OTHERWISE MEET YOUR NEEDS OR EXPECTATIONS.

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PROVIDED BY LAW, THE COMPANY HEREBY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, STATUTORY, OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND FITNESS FOR PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

THE FOREGOING DOES NOT AFFECT ANY WARRANTIES THAT CANNOT BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.

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Limitation on Liability

[TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PROVIDED BY LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL THE SMP CENTER, ITS AFFILIATES, GRANTORS, FUNDERS, OR THEIR LICENSORS, SERVICE PROVIDERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, VOLUNTEERS, OFFICERS, OR DIRECTORS BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, UNDER ANY LEGAL THEORY, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE, OR INABILITY TO USE, OUR WEBSITE, ANY WEBSITES LINKED TO IT, ANY CONTENT ON OUR WEBSITE OR SUCH OTHER WEBSITES, INCLUDING ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PERSONAL INJURY, PAIN AND SUFFERING, EMOTIONAL DISTRESS, LOSS OF REVENUE, LOSS OF PROFITS, LOSS OF BUSINESS OR ANTICIPATED SAVINGS, LOSS OF USE, LOSS OF GOODWILL, LOSS OF DATA, AND WHETHER CAUSED BY TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), BREACH OF CONTRACT, OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF FORESEEABLE.

Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the SMP Center, its affiliates, grantors, licensors, and service providers, and its and their respective officers, directors, employees, volunteers, contractors, agents, licensors, suppliers, successors, and assigns from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, judgments, awards, losses, costs, expenses, or fees (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of or relating to your violation of these Terms of Use or your use of our Website, including, but not limited to any use of Our Website’s content, services, and products other than as expressly authorized in these Terms of Use, or your use of any information obtained from Our Website.

Governing Law and Jurisdiction

All matters relating to our website, these Terms of Use, and any dispute or claim arising therefrom or related thereto (in each case, including non-contractual disputes or claims), shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the internal laws of the State of Iowa without giving effect to any choice or conflict of law provision or rule whether of the State of Iowa or any other jurisdiction.

For the purposes of this section:

  • “We”, “SMP Center”, “our”, and “us” includes Senior Medicare Patrol National Resource Center;
  • “You”, “your”, and “yours” includes you and any person who may assert a claim on behalf of you, including a spouse or family member as applicable by law;
  • “Disputes” is defined broadly and includes all claims and/or controversies between you and us related to our website, your account, or this policy, under any legal theory including contract, warranty, tort, statute, or regulation; and
  • “Disputes” also includes any claims or controversies as to the scope or effect of our Terms of Use.

Arbitration

You and We agree to arbitrate all disputes on an individual (non-class) basis in the State of Iowa, specifically located in the City of Cedar Rapids and/or Black Hawk County.

Arbitration means the case will be decided by a private arbitrator.  The arbitrator will apply the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”).

At our sole discretion we may require you to submit any disputes arising from these Terms of Use or use of our website, including disputes arising from or concerning their interpretation, violation, invalidity, non-performance, or termination, to final and binding arbitration under the Rules of Arbitration of the American Arbitration Association applying Federal and state laws.

This shall apply to any legal suit, action, or proceeding arising out of, or related to, these Terms of Use and the use of our website; including disputes arising from or concerning their interpretation, violation, invalidity, non-performance, or termination; to final and binding arbitration under the Rules of Arbitration of the American Arbitration Association applying Federal and state laws. We retain the right to bring any suit, action, or proceeding against you for breach of these Terms of Use in your country of residence or any other relevant country. You waive any and all objections to the exercise of jurisdiction over you by such courts and to venue in such courts.

Limitation on Time to File Claims

ANY CAUSE OF ACTION OR CLAIM YOU MAY HAVE ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OF USE OR OUR WEBSITE MUST BE COMMENCED WITHIN ONE (1) YEAR AFTER THE CAUSE OF ACTION ACCRUES; OTHERWISE, SUCH CAUSE OF ACTION OR CLAIM IS PERMANENTLY BARRED.

Waiver and Severability

No waiver by the SMP Center of any term or condition set out in these Terms of Use shall be deemed a further or continuing waiver of such term or condition or a waiver of any other term or condition, and any failure of the SMP Center to assert a right or provision under these Terms of Use shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.

If any provision of these Terms of Use is held by a court, arbitrator, mediator, or other tribunal of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable for any reason, such provision shall be eliminated or limited to the minimum extent such that the remaining provisions of the Terms of Use will continue in full force and effect.

Entire Agreement

The Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy constitute the sole and entire agreement between you and the SMP Center regarding our website and supersede all prior and contemporaneous understandings, agreements, representations, and warranties, both written and oral, regarding our website.

Your Comments and Concerns

Our website is operated by the SMP National Resource Center, Northeast Iowa Area Agency on Aging, located at 3840 W 9th Street, Waterloo, Iowa 50702.

All feedback, comments, requests for technical support, and other communications relating to our website should be directed to: Nicole Liebau at info@smpresource.org.