Healthcare Excellence Canada – Website Terms of Use

PLEASE READ THESE TERMS OF USE BEFORE ACCESSING OR USING THIS WEBSITE.

1. Introduction

Healthcare Excellence Canada (“HEC”) is a not-for-profit organization, primarily funded by Health Canada, that works with partners to share proven healthcare innovations and best practices in patient safety and quality. Working together with patients and other partners, HEC aims to deliver lasting improvements in patient experience, the work life of healthcare providers, value for money, and the health of everyone in Canada.

2. Acceptance

These terms of use, and all documents referenced herein (collectively, the “Terms of Use”), set out the terms and conditions that apply to your use of www.healthcareexcellence.ca, including any and all materials, documentation, information, tools, resources, and other content provided thereon (collectively, the “Website”). Your access and use of the Website constitutes your agreement to be bound by these Terms of Use, which establish a contractual relationship between you and HEC. By accessing or otherwise using the Website, you acknowledge that you have read these Terms of Use and that you understand and agree to be legally bound by them. If you do not accept these Terms of Use, you must not access or use the Website.

3. Amendment

HEC may, in its sole and absolute discretion, and without prior notice, amend or replace these Terms of Use at any time by posting revised Terms of Use on the Website. Your continued use of the Website after any such change will constitute your acceptance of the revised Terms of Use.

4. Website Access and Technical Requirements

You may not use the Website if you live in a jurisdiction where access to or use of the Website may be illegal or prohibited. It is solely your responsibility to determine whether your use of the Website is lawful, and you must comply with all applicable laws.

These Terms of Use apply to your use of the Website, regardless of the device used to access, use or view the Website. Your use of the Website may require the device you use to access the Website to be connected to the Internet. You are solely responsible for the cost and maintenance of any such Internet connection, including any data usage, roaming or other charges that you incur. Further, you acknowledge that, from time to time, you may be unable to access or use the Website.

Your access or use of the Website may be subject to certain minimum technical requirements. It is your responsibility: (a) to ensure that you have access to the hardware and/or software platforms required to access and use the Website; and (b) for updating and maintaining your devices or Internet connection. HEC reserves the right to change or cease support of any hardware or software platforms at any time.

You acknowledge that data transmitted over the Internet or other networks may not be secure, and may be subject to loss, interception or alteration. HEC cannot guarantee the security of any communications to or from the Website and assumes no liability for damages you may experience or costs you may incur arising from any network transmissions. You should ensure compatibility of any website you visit with your device.

5. Informational/Educational Purposes Only

The information found on the Website is provided for informational/educational purposes only and is not intended to provide specific medical advice or replace the judgment of a healthcare professional. Such information is intended to provide users with information to better understand matters related to patient safety and quality improvement in health services. Your reliance on any information obtained from or through the Website is solely at your own risk and such information does not necessarily reflect the views of HEC, Health Canada, or any other third party.

6. External Links

The Website may link to, or be linked to, websites not maintained by or affiliated with HEC. HEC provides such links for your convenience only. The inclusion of a link on the Website does not constitute HEC’s endorsement, approval, affiliation, or sponsorship of such linked website. It is your responsibility to review and comply with the terms and conditions of linked websites and to take the necessary precautions to protect yourself from malicious, disruptive, or otherwise harmful software or data, including using anti-virus software. Linking to any other website is at your sole risk, and HEC assumes no liability for damages from such linking.

You may not gather, extract, reproduce and/or display on any non-HEC website, any information or material on or from the Website, whether or not by the use of data mining, robots, spiders or other ‘screen scraping’ software or system used to extract data without HEC’s consent.

7. Account Set-Up

In order to access or utilize certain aspects of the Website, you may be required to establish and maintain an account (“Account”). In order to create an Account, you will be required to provide certain personal data, all of which is subject to the Website Privacy Policy (as defined in Section 8). You must provide accurate and complete information when creating your Account. You will be solely responsible and liable for any and all loss, damage, and additional costs that you, HEC or any other person may incur as a result of your submission of any false, incorrect or incomplete information or your failure to keep your Account information up to date. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, HEC reserves the right to suspend or terminate your Account if you, intentionally or otherwise, provide inaccurate or incomplete information, or fail to comply with these Terms of Use or any account creation requirements. By using the Website, you represent and warrant that you have reached the age of majority in the jurisdiction in which you reside, otherwise you may not register for or use an Account.

Your Account may be accessed only by use of your login name and password. You will choose your own username and password upon registration for the Website. You are solely responsible and liable for any use and/or misuse of your login name and password and for all activities that occur under them. For security reasons, you must keep your login name and password confidential, and not disclose them to any person or permit any other person to use them, except an authorized representative of HEC. HEC recommends that You choose a password that is unique to you and not easily guessed by others. You should change your password on a regular basis, and you should log out at the end of each session. HEC reserves the right to require you to change your username and/or password, from time to time, as applicable.

All Accounts, login names and passwords remain the property of HEC and may be cancelled or suspended at any time by HEC without any notice or liability to you or any other person. HEC is not under any obligation to verify the actual identity or authority of the user of any login name or password.

You must immediately notify HEC of any unauthorized use of your login name or password, or if you know or suspect that your login name or password has been lost, stolen, has become known to any other person, or has been otherwise compromised.

8. Privacy

You acknowledge that you have read the HEC Website privacy policy, available at https://www.healthcareexcellence.ca/en/privacy/, as updated from time to time (the “ Website Privacy Policy”), the terms of which are incorporated into these Terms of Use, and you agree that the terms of the Website Privacy Policy are reasonable. You consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information by HEC in accordance with the terms of and for the purposes set out in the Website Privacy Policy.

You understand that HEC may monitor and track your usage of the Website. You acknowledge that, subject to the Website Privacy Policy, HEC may disclose information relating to your use of or access to the Website that is necessary to satisfy any law, regulation, governmental or other lawful request from any applicable jurisdiction.

9. Intellectual Property

The Website consists of graphics, texts, icons, buttons, videos, software, audio and other files, images and other materials that are the property of HEC and/or its various subsidiaries, affiliates and third party providers (collectively, “Third Parties”) and are protected to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, including copyright, trademark, patent and all other applicable intellectual property laws.

Certain names, graphics, logos, icons, designs, words, titles and phrases contained within the Website may constitute trade names, registered or unregistered trademarks or service marks (collectively, “Trademarks”) of HEC or the applicable Third Party. All Trademarks are and shall remain the sole and exclusive property of their respective owners. You may not copy, reproduce, distribute, or create derivative works from any content on the Website without express written consent from HEC.

HEC grants permission to individuals and organizations to download or print information from the Website for non-commercial purposes only. You may reproduce short excerpts from any HEC reports and publications made available on the Website, provided the source and authors of such materials are fully acknowledged. As a courtesy, the consent of the authors of such material should be obtained. For other kinds of copying, such as copying for general distribution, advertising or promotional purposes, or for resale, arrangements must be made by contacting HEC at the email address set out below.

10. Use of Site

Your use of the Website does not grant or transfer to you any ownership or other rights in the Website and, except as expressly provided herein, nothing herein or within the Website shall be construed as conferring on you or any other person any licence under any of HEC’s or any Third Party’s intellectual property or other rights. Any rights not expressly granted to you in these Terms of Use are expressly reserved by HEC and/or the applicable Third Party.

Except as expressly set out in these Terms of Use, you shall not, directly or indirectly:

• copy, reproduce, distribute, modify, adapt, create derivative works from, publicly display, republish, transfer, transmit, sell, compile for an internal database or store any Website content, in any form or by any means, without the express written permission of HEC or the applicable Third Parties;
• (i) reverse engineer, disassemble, decompile, or translate the Website; (ii) attempt to derive the source code of the Website; (iii) create any derivative work from the Website; (iv) use the Website to create a competing product; and/or (v) authorize or assist any third party to do any of the foregoing;
• use any device, software or technique to interfere with or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Website;
• post or transmit to the Website any unlawful, fraudulent, harassing, libelous, infringing of third party intellectual rights, or obscene information of any kind;
• post or send to the Website any information that contains a virus, bug, or other harmful item;
• take any action which imposes an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on the Website’s infrastructure; or
• circumvent any technical measures HEC uses to provide the Website, including violating the security of any computer network, cracking any passwords or security encryption codes, or using any robot, spider, scraper or any other means, manual or automated, to access the Website for any purpose.

In its sole discretion, in addition to any other rights or remedies available to HEC and without any liability whatsoever, HEC may at any time and without notice terminate or restrict your access to any component of the Website.

11. Liability Disclaimer – Read Carefully

Except as expressly provided in these Terms of Use, and to the fullest extent allowed by law, HEC makes no representations or warranties of any kind – express, implied, statutory, or otherwise – regarding the Website, which is offered on an “as is” and “as available” basis.

HEC expressly disclaims all warranties, representations, guarantees, conditions, and covenants relating to the Website, whether express, implied, statutory, or otherwise, including any implied warranties or conditions of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, quality, title, accuracy, completeness, and non-infringement. HEC assumes no responsibility or liability arising from any error, omission, or use of any information contained on the Website to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, HEC does not represent or warrant that:

• the Website will be compatible with your computer, mobile or other device and/or software;
• the Website will be accurate, reliable, complete, current, or suitable, for any particular purpose;
• the operation of the Website will be uninterrupted, secure, timely, or error-free;
• defects or errors in the Website will be corrected;
• the Website will be free from viruses, Trojan horses, malware, worms, infections, or other harmful components;
• communications to or from the Website will be secure and/or not intercepted; or
• your use of the Website will meet any particular requirements.

Your use of the Website is solely at your own risk, and you are responsible for any damages you may incur. HEC shall not be liable for user conduct on the Website or for any damages to your device or other property arising from your access to, use of, or downloading of any content from the Website. This applies regardless of HEC’s awareness or potential foreseeability of such damages.

Maximum Liability

Under no circumstances will HEC be liable, in contract, tort (including negligence or gross negligence) or otherwise, for any direct, indirect, special, incidental, consequential, punitive, or exemplary damages, including damages for loss of use, data, profits, business interruption, or any other damages, arising from or related to your use or performance of the Website, even if HEC has been notified of the possibility of such damage or if such damage was foreseeable. You acknowledge that you use the Website at your own risk, and your sole remedy for any claim, loss, damage, cost, or expense is to discontinue use of the Website.

If HEC is found liable for any loss or damage arising from the use or functions of the Website, its total aggregate liability shall not exceed $100.00 (CAD).

Indemnification

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you agree to indemnify, defend (at HEC’s discretion), and hold harmless HEC, its affiliates, and their respective directors, officers, employees, agents, and other representatives from and against all liabilities, losses, claims, damages, penalties, actions, suits, demands, levies, costs, expenses, and disbursements (including any and all reasonable legal and advisory fees) of whatever kind or nature, which may at any time be suffered by, imposed on, incurred by, or asserted by HEC (collectively, “Claims”) arising out of or in connection with:

• your access to or use of the Website and related activities;
• your breach of these Terms of Use;
• your violation or anticipated violation of any applicable laws in connection with your use of the Website;
• any misrepresentation by you;
• your contribution to the injury, illness, disability (including permanent disability), or death of a third party; and
• HEC’s permitted use of any information you submit through the Website.

You agree that HEC may assume the defense and control of any matter for which you are required to indemnify HEC, and you agree to cooperate, at your own cost, with HEC’s defense of any such Claim. You agree not to settle any Claim for which you are required to indemnify HEC, without HEC’s prior written consent.

Entire Agreement

These Terms of Use, together with any rules, guidelines or policies posted on the Website by HEC or incorporated by reference herein, including the Website Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and HEC regarding the subject matter hereof, and supersede all other and prior communications, representations or agreements, whether electronic, oral or written, regarding the subject matter hereof.

Jurisdiction

These Terms of Use shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Province of Ontario and the laws of Canada applicable therein, without regard to any conflict of laws provisions. You expressly attorn to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the Province of Ontario in connection with any matter arising out of or relating to the Website or these Terms of Use.

General

If any provision of these Terms of Use is held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, it shall be severed, and the remaining provisions shall remain in full force without being invalidated in any way. These Terms of Use are binding upon you, your heirs, executors, beneficiaries, successors and assigns and you may not assign these Terms of Use to any other party without HEC’s prior written consent, which consent may be withheld in HEC’s sole discretion. HEC will not be considered to have waived any of its rights or remedies described in these Terms of Use unless the waiver is in writing and signed by HEC. No delay or omission by HEC in exercising its rights or remedies will impair or be construed as a waiver. Any single or partial exercise of a right or remedy will not preclude further exercise of any other right or remedy. The failure of HEC to insist upon the strict performance of any provision of these Terms of Use will not constitute a waiver of the right of HEC to subsequently enforce such provision or any other provision of these Terms of Use. The headings used in these Terms of Use are included for convenience only and have no legal or contractual effect. Every use of the words “including” or “includes” in these Terms of Use is to be construed as meaning “including, without limitation” or “includes, without limitation”, respectively. All obligations that by their nature survive the termination or expiration of these Terms of Use and/or your access to and/or use of the Website will survive any termination or expiration hereof.

Contacting HEC

HEC appreciates any feedback and other suggestions you may have regarding the Website. In doing so, you consent to HEC’s use of such feedback or suggestions without any restrictions or obligation to compensate you for them, and acknowledge that HEC is under no obligation to keep them confidential.

If you would like to relay any feedback or have any questions about HEC, these Terms of Use or the Website, please contact us at: info@hec-esc.ca.

Last updated: May 5 2025