California Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Regional Collaborative Agreement
This agreement sets forth terms for data sharing between the California Society of Thoracic Surgeons (CASTS) and hospitals in California who are participants in the Society of Thoracic Surgeons National Database (STS-NDB), hereinafter referred to asthe “Participant”, for the purpose of establishing regional collaborative groups.
The Participant agrees to make available to the CASTS aggregate hospital-specific data submitted to the STS-NDB for the preparation of regional reports by Duke Clinical Research Institute. These reports will be used to study best practices and to pursue quality improvement goals common to members of the regional collaborative group.
“Regional Collaborative Group” may refer to physicians, surgeons and cardiac team members in counties or other regional designations to be determined by the CASTS in consultation with Participants. Quality improvement goals include the following:
- Sharing and implementation of best practices found to achieve optimal outcomes by other sites or regions.
- Aggregating STS data toproduce regional reports, study “star” ratings andexamine variations in regional outcomes.
- Provide access to comprehensive hospital-specific data on the password-protected CASTS reporting web site
- Developingmethods for linkage of STS-NDB data to administrative databases provided by OSHPD in order to audit STS data and to obtain longer term outcomes.
- Pursue investigation of access to care, geographic variation in outcomes, and racial and/or ethnic inequities in cardiovascular interventions.
Data to be shared will not include any patient-specific identifiers. Linkage of STS data to administrative data will be performed by probabilistic techniques to follow episodes of care.
Data analyses and patient-centered studies are performed within the restrictions of protocols submitted to and approved by the OSHPD Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects.
Data reports and other confidential information will be published at the CASTS password-protected website Participants will be provided a unique login for access to the reports, subject to the grant of use agreement included herein.
Participant agrees to pay an annual fee of $2000, payable to the “California Society of Thoracic Surgeons” at the address below to cover basic access to data and services. The CASTS will also provide additional services based on the availability of foundation grants to assist with meetings and other costs of regional collaborative efforts.
Grant of Use Agreement
1. GRANT OF LICENSE
The California Society of Thoracic Surgeons (CASTS) grants to Participant a non-exclusive right to use the website and all associated documentation. In the context of this Agreement, "Use" means that a single user may access the website on a single computer at any given time.
2. RESTRICTIONS ON USE
Participant agrees not to:
- Use the reports in any marketing related literature, except as approved by CASTS. Participant may, however, “link in” from its own websites to specific pages where the Participant is mentioned or data from the Participant is displayed.
- Use the website Information in any manner that is not expressly authorized herein.
- Permit third parties to use the website Information in any way that would constitute a breach of this Agreement.
- Modify or adapt the reports or merge them into any other computer program.
- Transmit the data that you do not have a right to make available under any law.
- Transmit any material that contains software viruses 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.
3. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
CASTS, and its associated third parties, own all intellectual property rights to the reports, dashboards, related written materials, logos, names and other support materials furnished. No title to the intellectual property in the reports, the documentation, magnetic media or any other material provided therewith is transferred to you by this Agreement.
4. TERM
This license shall continue for as long as Participant is entitled to access the reports. However, this license will terminate immediately if participant fails to comply with any of its terms or conditions.
5. LIMITED WARRANTY AND LIABILITY
The reportsand related materials are provided "as is" without warranty or condition of any kind. CASTS does not warrant that the website information will meet the requirements of Participants or that their operation and information will be error-free. In no event shall CASTS, or its associated third parties, be liable to Participant or any other third party for any damages arising in connection with the use of the reports. Although CASTS has taken all reasonable steps to provide a secure system, within limitations imposed by network and computer infrastructure, CASTS does not guarantee that this web site shall be secure from monitoring or tampering, nor that information stored on any computer connected to the network shall be secure from monitoring or tampering.
6. VIRUSES
CASTS assumes no responsibility and shall not be liable to you or to any other party for any damages to or viruses that may infect computer equipment or other property on account of access to or use of the dashboards.
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______California Society of Thoracic Surgeons
C/o Jeffrey C. Milliken M.D., President
______101 The City Drive, Bldg 53, Room 117
Orange, CA92868
Participant