General Terms and Conditions for the management services of Ambulanzpartner Soziotechnologie APST GmbH (APST) and the APST Platform
Issued on January 1, 2018
For better legibility the following text shall not make gender specific distinctions in terminology. Any and all information referring to persons shall be deemed to apply equally to both genders.
People with chronic diseases may have a need for multitudinous and complex outpatient medication provisions. One critical factor in the treatment of outpatients is the coordination of care requirements and the liaising between all the parties involved. APST addresses this need and epitomizes digitally supported managed care. The concept pursued by APST (hereinafter “APST Concept”) encompasses a combination of patient and data management services with the APST digital management platform (hereinafter ”APST Platform“).
APST GmbH (hereinafter “APST“) offers a range of managed care services facilitating improved coordination, communication and networking between patients (and their relatives), medical partners (doctors, nursing service providers), medication therapies providers (pharmacies, drug companies, medical devices manufacturers) as well as providers of therapeutics and assistive technology and devices. The APST Platform is the communication and management platform which digitally supports all the care coordination processes. It links an electronic patient record with digital process control for managed care and care research purposes.
APST closely cooperates with Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Charité University Hospital Berlin) (hereinafter “Charité”) – in the provision of the APST Platform and any associated services. APST and Charité jointly host the APST PLATFORM and collaborate on data privacy, data security and research into managed care.
1. Applicability
1.1. These General Terms and Conditions (GTC) shall apply to the utilization of the services provided by APST and the utilization of the APST Platform by providers.
1.2. APST providers are providers, manufacturers or vendors of care services or medical devices including assistive technology devices, therapeutics and medicinal products (hereinafter “Provider(s)”). They shall be made duly authorized providers of the platform and shall receive individual user accounts. The legal fundaments for this shall be established based on the individual agreements upon conclusion of the contract and these GTC. Provision is made for the utilization of the APST Platform software products by patients and medical partners (relatives, doctors, social services) as well as further persons duly authorized by the patients and shall be regulated under separate GTC for medical partners.
1.3. By registering with APST, the Provider agrees to the GTC and data privacy regulations. APST reserves the right to amend these GTC, if and as necessary – most particularly for actual and/or legal reasons - and shall name such particular reasons when making any such amendment.
APST shall notify the Provider of any such amendment to the terms and conditions by sending an e-mail to the address last filed with APST one month before these terms are due to come into full force and effect. Unless the Provider voices their objection 14 days after receipt of the said e-mail, the amended terms and conditions shall be deemed agreed and shall henceforth govern the contractual relationship between the Provider and APST. In the event the Provider does object, the contractual relationship shall be terminated according to the provisions under Section 4.2.
1.4. The parties to the contract shall not transfer the rights and obligations under this contract. Cession of rights shall be excluded.
2. Subject of the Contract and Performances & Services
2.1. APST shall render services in terms of coordination of care, data and document management as well as liaising between care providers and medical partners. The entirety of these services is subsumed under the term “Managed Care”. At APST, managed care is subdivided into modules and offered accordingly. This set of modules may be utilized as a whole or in part (individual modules). A detailed description of the service modules offered, including the Terms and Conditions of Use and Fees can be found in the Performance and Service Specifications available for the following managed care modules:
The service modules comprise individual performance and service components, the full particulars of which you will find in the Performance and Service Specifications. The following performance and service components are distinguished in managed care:
2.2. APST shall provide to the Providers the APST PLATFORM for their use. The APST Platform is a structured data base facilitating the electronic capturing, storage and processing of patient-related and care-related data as well as offering digital support for care provision processes. Access to the platform (https://www.ambulanzpartner.de) shall require a personal user name and password combination. Please see the Performance and Service Specifications for platform features, data captured, user roles and authorizations as well as the Terms and Conditions of Use and Fees.
2.3. APST shall support the Provider(s) and other users in their user experience on the APST Platform and shall execute, if required, the input, administration and storage of data (see services under “Data Management”). Prior to embarking on the platform, the Provider may make use of our free introductory training conducted over the phone and, if required, further trainings to be agreed on an individual basis at no extra charge.
2.4. Having obtained the patient’s written consent, patient-related data shall be released to the Provider for further scrutiny, processing and utilization. APST shall safeguard that any such consent meets all legal and data privacy requirements. The patient shall be entitled to revoke their initial consent at any time with immediate effect and without giving reason.
2.5. The Internet connection and the web browser shall not be subject of the contractual relationship between the Provider and APST.
3. Conclusion of Contract
3.1. The utilization of the services stated under 2.1 as well as the use of the APST software shall require the conclusion of a User Contract (Permissions Contract). This contractual relationship shall be deemed entered into as and when the Provider completes the registration process on the platform.
3.2. By entering into the contract, the Provider agrees to these GTC, the Data Privacy Declaration (Section 8.3.) and the Performance and Service Specifications including the Terms and Conditions of Use and Fees.
3.3. The Provider shall ensure the information provided by them in the context of concluding this contract is complete and correct. In case of violation, APST shall be entitled to disable the Provider’s account with immediate effect.
4. Term and Termination of Contract
4.1. This is a Contract for Indefinite Duration.
4.2. Either party to the contract shall be entitled to terminate the contact by giving four weeks’ notice at the end of any month. Termination shall be declared in writing or in textual form. Irrespective of a termination of contract current care provision orders may be concluded and executed by using the APST Platform software, subject to a contrary declaration by the patient in the event of a patient-sided termination of contract or a possible revocation at any time according to Section 2.4.
4.3. Either party to the contract shall be entitled to termination for cause, particularly in cases where a substantial breach of contract shall become manifest which shall render the execution of contract impossible for either party to the contract.
4.4. The Provider shall undertake to refrain from entering any unlawful content on the APST Platform or from making the platform accessible to third parties, i. e., via fora, chat rooms, e-mail or spam. Any breach of the contractual limitations of use shall entitle APST to take appropriate remedial measures including disablement of the Provider’s user account. In such an event, the Provider shall be notified immediately of the nature, duration, reason and extent of the account disablement.
5. Responsibilities of the Provider, Security Recommendations
5.1. The Provider shall be obliged to keep their access data (user name, password) safe, as if they were valuables, and to prevent access by an unauthorized third party. Use of antivirus, antispyware and Firewall software and the latest browser version are explicitly recommended to the Provider. If the Provider uses an older browser version, display of the APST Platform software may be limited. In such cases, the Provider may approach APST to enquire which suitable browsers and versions to use.
5.2. Accuracy of the data entered into the system by the Provider has a direct impact on the value of performances and services under this contract. Therefore, the Provider shall explicitly indemnify and hold harmless APST against all claims by third parties putting their trust in the accuracy of such data and information.
6. Costs for the Utilization of Services and Software Rendered by APST
6.1. The utilization of the performances and services specified herein as well as the use of the APST Platform software by patients and medical partners shall be free of charge.
6.2. The utilization of the performances and services specified herein as well as the use of the APST Platform software by providers shall be subject to payment of a fee.
6.3. The exact fee amount for performances and services rendered (service fee) and the use of the APST Platform software (user license) can be found in the Performance and Service Specifications under Section 2.1.
7. Duties of the Provider
7.1. For the complete rendering of performances and services by APST and the capturing of necessary patient-related and care-related data for managed care and care research purposes – pending release from confidentiality and data privacy declarations by the patient – Provider(s) shall be obliged to comply with guidelines and execution instructions previously agreed with the providers and made available by APST. If required, APST shall offer to the Provider(s) free trainings to be conducted over the phone or personally on the guidelines of coordinated care (case management) as well as on document and data management.
7.2. To assure the quality of the performances and services rendered and of data collection on the APST Platform, APST may conduct selective inspections to check compliance with the execution instructions. For this purpose, APST may, among other things, contact the patient to verify accuracy and completeness of the data capturing process by the provider. Should any data prove to be incomplete or incorrect, APST shall offer their advice to the patient to ensure accuracy of data capture by the Provider.
8. Data Security, Consent to Data Processing, Protection of Patient Data
8.1. APST is subject to the Data Privacy Laws of the Federal Republic of Germany. These laws oblige APST to protect the data of the Provider(s) and of other parties involved.
8.2. APST shall make provisions according to current organizational and technical standards to satisfy the requirements set out in Data Privacy Laws, particularly in terms of protection of patient data against unauthorized access by third parties. Stored data shall be SSL-encoded when transferred via the World Wide Web (www) from the server to the Provider’s computer system and vice versa. The data shall be stored in encoded format.
8.3. The Provider shall explicitly consent to the collection, processing and use of their data by APST, patients, medical partners and providers for the purposes set forth in this contract and subject to a separate Data Privacy Declaration.
8.4. The Provider shall be obliged to refrain from using patient data for purposes that are inconsistent with those set forth in this contract. A violation of this obligation gives sufficient reason for termination for cause by APST (Section 4.3). Any further claims by APST shall remain unaffected thereby.
9. Liability
9.1. In cases of willful misconduct or gross negligence the parties to the contract shall assume full liability for any damage caused by the parties to the contract as well as their legal guardians and/or vicarious agents.
9.2. In cases of slight negligence, the parties to the contract shall assume full liability for injuries to life, body or health by the parties to the contract as well as their legal guardians and/or vicarious agents.
9.3. Liability according to the Product Liability Act shall remain unaffected thereby.
10. Utilization Rights
10.1. For the purpose of using the APST Platform and associated data APST shall grant to the Provider a simple (non-sublicensable and non-transferrable) utilization right for the APST PLATFORM software which shall be limited to the term of this contract.
10.2. The Provider’s entitlement shall merely extend to the utilization of the APST Platform, subject to the provisions set forth in this contract. Cession of the software to the Provider shall be excluded.
10.3. The Provider shall not be entitled to make the contractual performances and services available to third parties for their use. Thus, the Provider shall be prohibited specifically from subletting the contractual APST Platform to third parties.
11. Ratings for Services and Performances Delivered by the Provider
11.1. APST shall provide their patients and the patients’ relatives with a rating software on the APST Platform so that they can rate providers. For that purpose, established scores shall be utilized while no facility for additional comments shall be provided. The results of the ratings shall be published on the APST Platform landing page or on any of its sub-pages in aggregate form without giving the respective patients’ names. The Provider shall agree to this subject to the following regulations.
11.2. APST shall ensure that patients rate only the very care provisions they have actually received. Each patient may rate each provider only once per provision.
11.3. Matter-of-factness shall be imperative for any rating and no content shall in any way represent an infringement of law. APST shall not be held liable for the accuracy, quality or completeness of the ratings. If duly notified by the respective provider of any substantiated inappropriateness or infringement, APST shall remove the offensive rating.
12. Severability Clause
Should any provision of this contract be or become ineffective or null and void, the effectiveness of the remaining provisions shall not in any way be affected thereby. The provision that is or has become ineffective or null and void shall be replaced by a provision so as to effect the former’s original purpose to the maximum extent permitted by law. This shall also apply to any gaps in this contract.
13. Miscellaneous
13.1. Unless otherwise provided in these GTC any and all amendments or additions to the contract shall require written form. This shall also apply to the waiver of the written form requirement.
13.2. The Law for the Federal Republic of Germany shall apply. If the Provider is a merchant, a legal entity under public law or a separate estate under public law, APST’s registered place of business shall exclusively be the place of jurisdiction for any disputes arising from this contractual relationship.
