Antitrust Statement
The antitrust laws, both federal and state, prohibit certain agreements and interactions among competitors that restrict competition or affect prices.

The Healthcare Supply Chain Standards Coalition (Standards Coalition) and its projects will not lead to illegal arrangements.  Standards are pro-competitive, not anti-competitive. Nevertheless, it is prudent to be mindful of those types of discussions that could lead to illegal, anti-competitive agreements and behaviors or the appearance of such activity.

Perhaps the number one anti-competitive offense is price-fixing. Price-fixing is per se illegal.  If the Standards Coalition agrees or colludes in price fixing there is no defense. Standards Coalition members engaged in this activity will go to jail if convicted, and will probably be ordered to pay restitution.  And, Standards Coalition members engaged in this activity most certainly will lose their job, and probably not be able to get another job in the industry.

So it is important that Standards Coalition members avoid any discussion or comment regarding prices during Standards Coalition discussions and meetings, especially with those members who are competitors.

Standard Coalition members should also avoid any discussions or comments about customers, markets, marketing plans, outputs, and upcoming bids, again especially with competitors.

This concern applies not only to Standard Coalition formal meeting discussions, but also to meeting breaks, lunchtime and any post-meeting get-togethers and discussions.  The threat of loss of livelihood, loss of reputation, jail-time and restitution should be sufficient motivation for Standard Coalition members to avoid even the appearance of improper activity. 

Standards Coalition members should use their membership and involvement in the work of the Standards Coalition to share and gain industry knowledge, to get better acquainted with the people who are also members, and to advance the adoption of uniform standards throughout the healthcare supply chain. However, Standards Coalition members should never engage in a one-on-one discussion with a representative from a competitive organization. Avoiding those discussions eliminates the opportunity to have contacts that could lead to illegal activity and no basis even for unfounded allegations or suspicions of such activity.

Privacy Policy
This is the web site of The Healthcare Supply Chain Standards Coalition

Our postal address is:
One North Franklin Street, 27th Floor
Chicago, IL 60606

We can be reached via email at info@hscsc.org or by telephone at (312) 422-2181.

The Standards Coalition is committed to respecting your privacy.  This policy was created with our web site visitors’ best interests in mind.

We recognize the need to address concerns you may have regarding the collection of personally identifiable information that you share with us.  The Coalition views personally identifiable information as any information that is associated with your name.  We invite you to carefully review the following privacy policy, which addresses how we collect and use information about our site visitors.  If you have specific questions not covered in this policy, please contact us at the email address, telephone number, or address listed above.

Copyright
The contents of all material on this web site are copyrighted by The Healthcare Supply Chain Standards Coalition unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved. No part of any Standards Coalition publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or using any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from The Healthcare Supply Chain Standards Coalition.  Letter of intent requests for permission to reproduce content should be sent to the permissions department in care of The Healthcare Supply Chain, Standards Coalition, One North Franklin Street, 27th Floor, Chicago, Il 60606 or email the Coalition at info@hscsc.org

The Standards Coalition is a member-based organization and limits access to some password protected publications. Members of the Standards Coalition may download content for their own use, consistent with the mission and purpose of the Standards Coalition.

Password Protected Areas of the Coalition Web Site
The Standards Coalition does not warrant or represent that the information you submit to the Standards Coalition web site will be protected against loss, misuse, or alteration by third parties.

You are responsible for taking all steps to ensure that no other person has access to your password.  It is your sole responsibility to (1) control the dissemination and use of you password; (2) authorize, monitor and control access to and use of your password; (3) promptly inform the Standards Coalition of any need to deactivate your password.  You permit the Standards Coalition and all other persons or entities involved in the operation of the web site to transmit, monitor, retrieve, store and use your information in connection with the operation of this web site.  The Standards Coalition web site or for your or third parties misuse of information transmitted or received through the Standards Coalition web site. 

The Standards Coalition is a member-based organization and limits access to password protected areas of the web site.

Collecting
The Standards Coalition may collect non-personally identifiable information in aggregate form from all web site visitors.  We may track your use of our web site in an effort to improve our content or navigation.  We also may collect aggregate information from you to better understand exactly how our web site is utilized. This information does not personally identify you in any way, and its sole purpose is to improve the user experience and to identify areas for improvement for our web team.

With your permission, this site also collects personally identifiable information through site registration, online surveys or other means. Personally identifiable information is never collected without your knowledge and permission.

Sharing
The Standards Coalition will not provide, sell, or lease your personally identifiable information to any third parties unless otherwise stated at the time of collection.

Usage
If you supply us with your email address, postal address, telephone number or other means of contact, you may receive periodic communications and/or contact from us with information on our organization or upcoming events that may be of interest to you.  If you do not wish to be contacted further after supplying us with such information, please contact us at the email address, telephone number or address listed above.

Links
Our web site may contain links to other web sites over which we exercise no control.  While it is our practice to only link to credible web sites, please understand that our privacy policy does not apply to these linked sites.

Mail-to Links
This site may contain mail-to links for submitting information to the Standards Coalition. Information sent to us is not shared with any third parties unless otherwise stated at the time of collection.

Changes to Policy
From time to time, we may change this policy.  If our information practices change, any policy changes will be posted to our web site.

Effective June 29, 2007

©2007 The Healthcare Supply Chain Standards Coalition