Acceptable Use of Electronic Resources

Learners involved in clinical experiences/clinical care at UMass Memorial Medical center/affiliates are subject to the policy on Acceptable Use of Electronic resources. The full policy can be found here (add link) and addresses the principles of use of electronic devices to maintain privacy with regard to Protected Health Information (PHI) and Personal Information (PI) of our patients.

As noted in the policy, it “defines the boundaries for the “acceptable use” of UMass Memorial Medical Center’s (UMass Memorial) electronic resources, including software, hardware devices and network systems; and for the acceptable use of non-UMass Memorial owned devices used to access UMass Memorial electronic resources.This policy is intended to promote employee productivity and safety while recognizing that technology alone cannot protect against internal and external threats to UMass Memorial resources and assets.  Other intentions of this policy include:

• Protect Patient, Employee, and UMass Memorial confidential information including Protected Health Information (PHI) and Personal Information (PI).
• Maintain compliance with applicable state and federal laws and regulations, including, but not limited to, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ("HIPAA") and Massachusetts Data Security Regulations.
• Protect workforce members from discrimination and harassment.
• Prevent copyright infringement, software piracy, and other misuse of UMass Memorial electronic resources.
• Protect UMass Memorial against computer crimes, viruses, hackers, pranks, Denial of Service attacks (“DOS”), cyber terrorism, and other civil and criminal wrong doings.
• Restrict use of UMass Memorial electronic resources to acceptable UMass Memorial uses as defined in this policy.
• Workforce members must have no expectations of privacy in anything they create, store, send or receive on UMass Memorial electronic resources, on managed devices, or when using FMD or webmail.

This Acceptable Use Policy provides guidance related to the use of, but is not limited to, the following types of technology:

• Email
• Servers
• Desktops/workstations
• Software
• Computer networks (wired, mobile and wireless)”
• Text/instant messaging
• Voice mail
• Internet
• Mobile devices
• Telecommunication devices
• Data storage devices

If you have questions about this policy, please contact Student Affairs or Clinical IS at UMass Memorial Health Care.

View the full policy here.