Comment Policy for ONC Health IT Buzz Blog

ONC Communications Team | November 29, 2009

The purpose of this blog is to guide how to use health IT and exchange electronic health information to improve outcomes and reduce costs in our health care system.

To ensure everyone’s voice is heard and to maintain a respectful dialogue, we ask that you follow the guidelines of our comment policy below. In short:

  • Stay focused. All viewpoints are welcome, but comments and links should remain relevant to the health information technology topics being discussed.
  • Be respectful. Personal attacks, profanity, and aggressive behavior are prohibited. Instigating arguments in a disrespectful way is also prohibited.
  • Tell the truth. Misleading or false information and unsupported accusations are prohibited.
  • No spam. Repeated posting of identical or very similar content in a counter-productive manner is prohibited.
  • No product endorsement. Share your experience without naming a specific product or service. Marketing or promotion of a particular vendor, product, or service is prohibited.

We retain the discretion to determine which comments violate our comment policy. We also reserve the right to remove and/or not allow comments to get posted. The views expressed within posted comments do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or the federal government.

Reporters, journalists, and other media professionals are requested to send questions to the ONC Media Office at onc.request@hhs.gov and to refrain from submitting questions here as comments. These types of questions will not be posted or answered.

We recognize that the web is a 24/7 medium, and your comments are welcome at any time. However, given the need to manage federal resources, moderating and posting comments will occur during regular business hours (8-6 p.m., M-F, except for federal holidays). Comments submitted after hours or on weekends or holidays will be read and posted as early as possible the next business day.

To protect your own privacy and the privacy of others, please do not include phone numbers, email addresses or any other personal identifiable information in the body of your comment.

This comment policy is valid for all discussions on any HHS managed forum. Thank you for taking the time to review our comment policy. We encourage your participation in our discussion and look forward to an active exchange of ideas.

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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will not share or sell any personal information obtained from users with any other organization or government agency except as required by law. Please view our complete Privacy and Security Policy.

For more information on privacy issues, see this HHS privacy policy notice.