Social Media Policy

Social Media Policy

Note: This policy pertains to public use of Sentara social media sites. Also see the Social Media Comment Policy. Please contact us with any questions or concerns.

Photo disclaimer: Sentara sometimes posts photos from public events on our social media sites. If you are in a photo that has been posted and would like it removed, please contact us. We will make reasonable attempts to remove photos by request.

By posting on any Sentara social media site you agree to these terms. Sentara Health has opened publicly facing pages on social media sites for viewing content and/or videos and posting comments. These social media sites include but are not limited to various sites such as Facebook, Twitter, blogs, multimedia, or other user-generated content. By accessing, viewing, and/or posting any content to any Sentara social media site on the Internet, you accept, without limitation or qualification, the following terms of use. If you do not agree to the terms of this Policy, you may not view or post any content to any Sentara Health social media site on the Internet. Your use of Sentara Health social media sites is acceptance of this Policy and has the same effect as if you had actually physically signed an agreement.

1. If you are a Sentara employee you must adhere to the Employee Social Media Guidelines post on the Sentara Intranet WaveNet site under Policies and Procedures. Failure to comply with these policies and procedures may result in disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment.

2. You must be at least 18 years old to post any content on any Sentara Health Social Media Site.

3. You are prohibited from posting any content that is personal health information including patient images on any Sentara Health social media site. You are also prohibited from using the Sentara Health social media site to provide medical advice or medical commentary by non-Sentara physicians or to use the Sentara Health social media site to make, recommend, or increase referrals to physicians who are not employed by Sentara Health

4. As a guest posting content to any Sentara Health social media site on the Internet, you agree that you will not: violate any local, state, federal, and international laws and regulations, including but not limited to copyright and intellectual property rights laws regarding any content that you send or receive via this Policy; transmit any material (by uploading, posting, email, or otherwise) that is unlawful, disruptive, threatening, profane, abusive, harassing, embarrassing, tortuous, defamatory, obscene, libelous, or is an invasion of another's privacy, is hateful or racially, ethnically, or otherwise objectionable as solely determined in Sentara Health's discretion; impersonate any person or entity or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity; transmit any material (by uploading, posting, email, or otherwise) that you do not have a right to make available under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships; transmit any material (by uploading, posting, email, or otherwise) that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, or other proprietary rights of any party; transmit (by uploading, posting, email, or otherwise) any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising (including advertising of non-Sentara Health services or products), promotional materials, "junk mail," "spam," "chain letters," "pyramid schemes," or any other form of solicitation; transmit any material (by uploading, posting, email, or otherwise) that contains software viruses, worms, disabling code, or any other computer code, files, or programs designed to interrupt, destroy, or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment; harass another; or collect or store, or attempt to collect or store, personal data about third parties without their knowledge or consent; or to share confidential pricing information of any party.

5. Sentara Health reserves the right to monitor, prohibit, restrict, block, suspend, terminate, delete, or discontinue your access to any Sentara Health social media site, at any time, without notice and for any reason and in its sole discretion. Sentara Health may remove, delete, block, filter, or restrict by any other means any materials in Sentara Health's sole discretion. You understand and agree that Sentara Health may disclose your communications and activities with Sentara Health in response to lawful requests by governmental authorities, including Patriot Act requests, judicial orders, warrants, or subpoenas, or for the protection of Sentara Health rights. You agree that in the event that Sentara Health exercises any of its rights hereunder for any reason, Sentara Health will have no liability to you.

6. By posting any content on any Sentara Health social media site, you grant to Sentara Health the irrevocable right to reproduce, distribute, publish, display such content and the right to create derivative works from your content, edit, or modify such content and use such content for any Sentara Health purpose.

7. You shall defend, indemnify, and hold Sentara Health and its corporate affiliates and their respective officers, directors, employees, contractors, agents, successors, and assigns harmless from and against, and shall promptly reimburse them for, any and all losses, claims, damages, settlements, costs, and liabilities of any nature whatsoever (including reasonable attorneys' fees) to which any of them may become subject arising out of, based upon, as a result of, or in any way connected with, your posting of any content to a Sentara Health social media site, any third party claims of infringement, or any breach of this Policy.

8. You expressly acknowledge that you assume all responsibility related to the security, privacy, and confidentiality risks inherent in sending any content over the Internet. By its very nature, a website and the Internet cannot be absolutely protected against intentional or malicious intrusion attempts. Sentara does not control the third-party sites and the Internet over which you may choose to send confidential personal or health information or other content and, therefore, Sentara does not warrant any safeguard against any such interceptions or compromises to your information. When posting any content on an internet site, you should think carefully about your own privacy in disclosing detailed or private information about yourself and your family. Furthermore, Sentara Health does not endorse any product, service, views, or content displayed on the Sentara social media site.

9. You agree that any claim or dispute relating to your posting of any content on a Sentara Health social media site on the Internet shall be construed in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia without regard to its conflict of laws provisions and you agree to be bound and shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the local, state, or federal courts located in the city of Norfolk, Virginia.

10. You may not provide any content to a Sentara Health social media site that contains any product or service endorsements or any content that may be construed as political lobbying, solicitations, or contributions or use the Sentara Health social media site to link to any sites or political candidates or parties or use the Sentara Health social media site to discuss political campaigns, issues, or for taking a position on any legislation or law.

11. This policy may be updated at any time without notice, and each time a user accesses a Sentara Health social networking site, the new policy will govern, usage, effective upon posting. To remain in compliance, Sentara Health suggests that you review the policy, as well as the other website policies, at regular intervals. By continuing to post any content after such new terms are posted, you accept and agree to any and all such modifications to this Policy.