Terms of Service

1. Introduction

About the Platform

Contract Rates Inc (“Contract Rates,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) operates a web-based intelligence portal that transforms Transparency in Coverage (TIC) machine-readable files into clear, actionable contract rate insights organized by specialty (taxonomy) and county. Our goal is to help solo and small-group healthcare practices negotiate from knowledge rather than guesswork.

Purpose of These Terms

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of the Contract Rates portal, websites, dashboards, data exports, APIs, newsletters, demos, and related services (collectively, the “Services”). By creating an account, accessing, or using the Services, you agree to these Terms.

If you do not agree, do not use the Services.

2. User Rights

Subject to these Terms and your plan level:

1. Access & Use. A limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access the Services for your internal business purposes.
2. Data Viewing. View dashboards, monthly updates, and historical trends available in your subscription tier.
3. Exports. Download permitted reports and exports (e.g., county/taxonomy packages) within your plan’s limits.
4. Support. Reasonable customer support during posted business hours.
5. Privacy Choices. Request access, correction, or deletion of your personal information as described in Section 6.
6. Cancellation. Cancel auto-renewing subscriptions as described in your order or account settings.
7. 835 ERA Verifier. Use of the 835 ERA Contract Rate Verifier feature requires execution of our Limited Purpose Business Associate Agreement prior to uploading any ERA files. The BAA is presented for electronic signature within the portal and must be completed before the upload tool becomes available.

3. User Responsibilities

You agree to:

1. Account Security. Keep your credentials confidential; you are responsible for all activity under your account.
2. Lawful Use. Use the Services only in compliance with applicable laws and these Terms.
3. Accurate Info. Provide and maintain accurate registration and billing information.
4. Internal Use Only. Use insights for your organization’s internal contracting strategy; do not distribute beyond authorized users.
5. Antitrust Compliance. Use the Services independently — do not coordinate, agree on, or fix prices, rates, or other competitively sensitive terms with competitors. Do not share competitively sensitive information with competitors, and do not use the Services to coordinate prices, rates, or other terms. If you participate in payer or provider committees, consult counsel about information-sharing rules.
6. Fees. Pay all applicable fees and taxes according to your plan and order form.

4. Acceptable Use Policies

You may not:

1. Scrape or Harvest. Use bots, spiders, or automated means (outside an approved API) to access or copy the Services or data.
2. Resell or Redistribute. Sell, sublicense, publish, or share data, dashboards, or exports to third parties without our written consent.
3. Reverse Engineer. Attempt to discover source code, algorithms, or underlying datasets beyond features made available to you.
4. Circumvent Controls. Bypass paywalls, rate limits, access controls, or plan restrictions.
5. Misuse Data. Use data for unlawful purposes, to harass or harm, to create misleading benchmarks, or to identify individual patients (PHI/PII) or any protected health information.
6. Security Interference. Probe, scan, or test system vulnerabilities, or introduce malware.
7. Competitive Misconduct. Use the Services to build or train competing products using our confidential methodologies, data linkages, or curation techniques.

5. Intellectual Property Rights

• Our IP. The Services, site content, selection and arrangement, data curation, mapping of TIC data to practice identities, analytics, documentation, and all related intellectual property are owned by Contract Rates and its licensors. Except for the limited rights expressly granted, we reserve all rights.
• Your Content. You retain rights to content you submit to us (e.g., your practice data). You grant Contract Rates a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, process, and display such content solely to provide and improve the Services.
• Feedback. If you provide suggestions or feedback, you grant us a perpetual, irrevocable license to use them without restriction or obligation.

6. Privacy Policy (Summary)

This summary highlights our privacy practices; the full Privacy Policy (linked in the portal) governs.

Data We Collect

• Account & Billing: name, email, organization, role, and payment details (processed by PCI-compliant processors).
• Usage & Device: log data, IP, browser, pages viewed, actions, and diagnostics.
• Support & Communications: messages, tickets, and call/chat records.
• Source Data: We ingest and transform public TIC machine-readable files. The 835 ERA Contract Rate Verifier processes a limited amount of Protected Health Information (PHI) as governed by our separate Limited Purpose Business Associate Agreement, which users must execute prior to using that feature. We do not seek or process PHI through any other feature of the Services and instruct users not to submit PHI outside the 835 ERA Verifier workflow.

How We Use Data

• Deliver, maintain, and improve the Services; personalize features; provide support; prevent fraud and abuse; and comply with law.

Sharing & Disclosure

• Vendors/Processors: Cloud hosting, payment, analytics, and support providers under contractual safeguards.
• Legal/Compliance: To comply with laws, regulations, subpoenas, or to protect rights, safety, and security.
• Business Transfers: In mergers, acquisitions, or financing, subject to confidentiality.
• We do not sell personal information.

Security

• Logical access controls, encryption in transit and at rest (where applicable), role-based access, logging, vulnerability management, and regular backups. No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure.

Your Choices

• Access, correct, or delete personal data; opt out of marketing; manage cookies via browser settings where applicable.

7. Termination and Suspension

When We May Act

• Violations of these Terms or law; non-payment; security risks; requests by authorities; or operational integrity concerns.

What May Happen

• Rate limiting; feature restrictions; temporary suspension; or termination of some or all Services.

Procedure

• We will strive to provide notice (email or in-app) explaining the reason and effective date, unless prohibited by law or urgent security risks require immediate action.
• Upon termination, your right to access the Services ends. We may retain data as required by law or for legitimate business purposes and will delete or de-identify it per our retention schedule.

Your Termination

• You may terminate at any time via account settings. Prepaid fees are non-refundable unless required by law or expressly stated in your order.

8. Disclaimers

1. Informational Use Only. The Services provide market intelligence derived from public TIC data and other lawful sources. They are not legal, financial, medical, or compliance advice.
2. HIPAA. The core rate intelligence Services operate on public TIC data and are not HIPAA-covered. The 835 ERA Verifier feature involves limited PHI processing governed exclusively by the separate BAA executed at feature activation.
3. Data Variability. TIC files may contain errors, omissions, or delays. We apply normalization and mapping, but we do not guarantee completeness, accuracy, or timeliness.
4. No Outcome Guarantees. We do not guarantee any negotiation results, payer behavior, or financial outcomes.
5. Third-Party Links/Services. We are not responsible for third-party sites, files, or services.

9. Limitation of Liability

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations; in such cases, the limitations apply to the fullest extent permitted.

10. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Oregon, U.S.A., without regard to conflict-of-law principles. You and Contract Rates agree to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the state and federal courts located in Josephine County, Oregon for all disputes not subject to informal resolution.

10a. Dispute Resolution

Before filing any claim, the parties agree to attempt informal resolution by contacting legal@contractrates.org. If unresolved after 30 days, either party may pursue binding arbitration under AAA Commercial Rules or file in small claims court for qualifying disputes. Nothing in this section prevents either party from seeking injunctive or other equitable relief in court for intellectual property violations or breaches of confidentiality.

11. Changes to Terms of Service

We may update these Terms to reflect changes to the Services, laws, or business practices.

• Notice. We will post the updated Terms with a new “Last updated” date and, for material changes, provide reasonable advance notice via email and/or in-app notifications.
• Effective Date. Changes take effect on the stated date. Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance.

If you do not agree to the updated Terms, you must stop using the Services before they take effect.

12. Contact Information

Plan-Specific Terms (Summary)

Certain features (e.g., county/taxonomy package counts, historical depth, export limits, package tiers) are controlled by your order form and in-app plan descriptions. If there is a conflict between these Terms and your signed order form, the order form controls for plan scope, fees, and term.

Data Sources Statement

Our insights are derived primarily from Transparency in Coverage machine-readable files published by payers and other lawful sources. Mapping to practice names and county/taxonomy organization is performed by Contract Rates’ proprietary processes. Availability and refresh frequency may vary by payer and region. We make reasonable efforts to process updates promptly following each monthly TIC publication cycle but do not guarantee specific update timelines.