Privacy Policy

The privacy of our users on the Internet is of the utmost importance to us. Since M3 USA Corporation (“M3″), its related network of sites and services, including:  MDLinx.com M3 Global Research, and its specialty sites including thesmartestoncologist.com or any similar M3 sites (all such sites collectively the “Sites”) do gather certain types of information about our users; we feel that you should completely understand the conditions and terms surrounding the gathering and use of information about those using our Sites and services. This Privacy Policy Statement divulges what information we gather, how we use it, and how to correct, change, or remove it. The services made available through M3 may be provided in a variety of media and devices now known or hereinafter developed including mobile applications, and include without limitation news, reference tools, and applications, sponsored programming, personalized content, continuing medical education, communication tools and discussion boards (collectively, the “Services”). In the policy, the pronouns “you” and “your” are used to refer to the end user, while “we,” “us” and “our” are used to refer to M3.

We self-certify compliance with the U.S.-EU Privacy Shield Framework.

By visiting one of the Sites, or by using the Services, you are accepting the practices described in this Privacy Policy Statement.

1. Information We Collected Via our Sites

Information We Collect from Unregistered Visitors

You must register to access our full Services; however, you may be able to access certain limited areas of the Sites without disclosing any personally identifiable information. We will collect non-personally identifiable information, i.e. information that is not traced back to any individual and is not used on its own to identify an individual. Even if you have not registered, M3 will collect such data including the referring website, if applicable, the type of browser you use, the time and date that you accessed the Services, the pages you visited and viewed throughout our Sites, and what computers responded to a market research survey. Taken in aggregate, this information enables us to better develop and fund the Services, provide content, and respond to our users’ needs. We will explain how this is done in the “Usage Tracking and Cookies” section of this Privacy Policy.

Information We Collect from Registered Users

You must register to access our full Services. When you register for the Services, you are asked to provide identifying information such as your name, email address, zip code and other professional information, e.g. specialty and profession. Additional information may be requested, which may be required to access some Services. We may collect additional information about registered users from third party sources to assist us in providing the Services. For example, we use such third party sources to verify and update registration information and confirm licensure status

Other Information We Collect through Services We Offer

Electronic Newsletters: The Services include free electronic newsletters sent to users to provide specific information on the appropriate or selected topics. We must gather the email addresses of users who register for and voluntarily subscribe to said Services. You may remove yourself from a mailing list at any time by following the instructions provided at the end of every newsletter.

Other Promotions: By registering with our Service(s) you agree that we may send you emails regarding information specific to such Service(s), surveys, or other opportunities that involve M3 Services. We must gather the email addresses of users to register for said Services. You may remove yourself from a mailing list at any time by terminating the Service.

Market Research: Registered users of the Services may opt-in to receive offers to participate in market research studies offered by M3. From time to time, any registered user may also be invited to participate in a sponsored or unsponsored market research study through an email invitation, on-site popup or some other means. In order to participate in any such survey, you will be required to agree to additional terms and conditions as part of the opt-in process.  Furthermore, in addition to providing your responses to the survey questions you may be asked to provide personally identifiable information that may be combined with information that you have already provided at registration or that we have received from a third party source. These studies are intended to give specific anonymous feedback to third parties as described in the “Information Sharing and Disclosures” section of this Privacy Policy.

Reporting Honorarium and Tax Information

If you participate in a survey that pays an honorarium, M3 may have an obligation to report your honorarium payments.  By participating in a market research survey, you are permitting us to disclose your earned honorarium as appropriate to comply with all laws and other reporting requirements.  In addition, IRS regulations prevent us from paying individuals in excess of $600 in any given tax year without valid tax information. If tax information is not provided within 12 months after completing a survey, honoraria amounts above $600 in any tax year are forfeited.

Industry Sponsored Programs: Registered users are encouraged to support delivery and development of Services by participating in industry-sponsored programs, such as our “Messages” programs, or other industry-supported events and offers. Registered users who participate agree that their name, specialty, profession, and the content they participate in along with their answers to any questions to which they choose to respond, can be shared with the industry sponsor. Registered users may cease participating in these programs at any time.

We do not control the practices of the advertisers on their sites. When you click on links and/or ad banners that take you away from our Sites to third-party websites, you will be subject to that party’s privacy policies. We encourage you to read the posted privacy policy statement whenever interacting with any website. If you have questions about how one of our advertisers uses information about you when you click their ad, visit their site and view their content, please contact them directly.

Discussion Lists: Use of discussion lists requires separate opt-in and additional registration and agreement to the terms and conditions for this Service. Subscribing to any other Service does not also subscribe users to affiliated discussion lists. You may remove yourself from a discussion list at any time by following the instructions provided.

Category 2 CME Recorder: This tool may be available through the Services. It collects your usage of select Category 2 CME-appropriate content, such as date and time you read an article summary or took a quiz, and length of time you spent on a quiz. These data are used to create a customized report that is available to you upon your request.

Additional Forms and Emails: We may also ask you to provide additional information after you register if you want to obtain additional services or information, or to resolve complaints or concerns.

“No-spam” policy

Your email address will not be sold to a third party if you sign up to be included on our email distribution list. Our periodic email distributions include emails announcing job openings, email newsletters, discussion lists, market research programs, quiz programs, and information about other PM services. You may opt out or unsubscribe at any time.

Usage Tracking and Cookies

M3 collects information about your activity on the Sites and through our advertisements using technologies such as cookies, including third-party cookies, web beacons and server log files.

Usage Tracking: M3 uses traffic analysis software on our servers to track user traffic patterns throughout the Services. M3 uses this data to break down overall usage statistics according to IP address, domain name, browser type, and MIME type by reading this information from the data automatically sent by the browser whenever a web page is requested. Additionally, solely in connection with your voluntary participation in a market research study or screening, your computer may (i) be tracked by digital fingerprinting or watermarking to help ensure unique responders to a survey, and (ii) accessed to assess browser compatibility and/or video cam usability.

Cookies: A cookie is a small text file placed in your computer’s browser to store your preferences. A cookie can be accessed only by the server that originally created the cookie. A cookie cannot store or send back any information to us that you have not specifically and voluntarily provided while on a Site, or that is not among the information mentioned above that is contained in every user’s browser (e.g., domain name, browser type). Cookies do not contain personally identifiable information; however, once you choose to furnish a Site with personally identifiable information, this information may be linked to the data stored in the cookie.

M3 uses cookies to monitor and manage Service development and delivery, and potentially to permit greater personalization of the Service based on your preferences and specifications. We may assign cookies to devices that access our Services to help us dynamically generate advertising and content to users of the Services.

Our Sites may also contain third-party cookies from advertising partners who help serve ads for M3 and other third parties on the Sites and elsewhere on the web.

Web Beacons: M3 and our third party business partners may also use “web beacons” or clear .gifs, or similar technologies, which are small pieces of code placed on a web page, to monitor the behavior and collect data about the visitors viewing a web page. For example, web beacons may be used to count the users who visit a web page or to deliver a cookie to the browser of a visitor viewing that page.

We and our third party business partners use the information automatically generated by cookies and web beacons, as well as other information that we or they have, to provide you with an optimal website experience. This includes measuring the effectiveness of our ads and your interactions them, and tailoring offers and advertisements to you for products or services you may find helpful on the Sites and third-party sites.

At this time, the Sites do not recognize automated browser signals regarding tracking mechanisms, which may include “do not track” instructions. However, you can change your privacy preferences regarding the use of cookies and similar technologies through your browser. You may set your browser to accept all cookies, block certain cookies, require your consent before a cookie is placed in your browser, or block all cookies. If your browser is set to block cookies, websites that are cookie-enabled will not recognize you when you return to the website, and some website functionality may be lost. The Help section of your browser will tell you about your options for managing your cookies.

2. Information Sharing and Disclosures

Personal Information

Except as described in this Privacy Policy or as specifically agreed to by you, we will not disclose to any third party personally identifiable information we gather from you through the Sites.

Aggregate Data

We aggregate data from registered and unregistered users for use in Service funding, analysis, development and delivery. Aggregate usage information provided to third parties or used to deliver services (e.g., advertising) to third parties allows us to keep our services free to users. Aggregated information is pooled from many individual records and stripped of any data that could be used to identify an individual. Information collected in the registration process is never shared with third parties in a personally identifiable way, except, as identified in this Privacy Policy, when you elect to participate in industry-sponsored programs.

Marketing and Advertising

M3 may target Services, advertising, and marketing (e.g. email and website communications) based on information that you provide when you register for the Services, information that M3 receives from third party sources, and on your history of usage of the Services or other personal information that you provide to M3. For example, a user that registers with oncology as his/her specialty, or frequently uses oncology-related Services, or informs M3 that oncology is a significant component of his/her practice may be served oncology-related advertisements and invitations to participate in oncology-related sponsored programs, on both M3 and third party Services.

Third Parties

In addition to aggregate information, we may share some kinds of personally identifiable information with third parties as described below.

Advertisers: When you are exposed to an advertisement through the Services (whether on the Sites or in an email, mobile ad or another Service), M3 may provide your personal information (such as name, specialty, NPI number, and country of residence) and information about your engagement with the Services (e.g., whether you viewed, interacted with or requested information about promotional content) to advertisers and/or such advertisers’ agents as well as to potential advertisers and their agents. Additionally, when you become a registered user of the Services, we may provide your personal information to potential advertisers and their agents.

We will NEVER provide these Advertisers with your personal contact information such as email, phone number or mailing address without your consent. We are not responsible for how these third parties use your information and manage your privacy.

Market Research Studies: From time to time, we may invite you via e-mail to participate in sponsored or unsponsored market research studies.  When you agree to participate in a study, you agree to share with M3 personally identifiable information, such as your name, email address, zip code and professional information.  Generally, these studies provide specific feedback using aggregated, de-identified data to third parties used to analyze trends and statistics for medical marketing, research, and development purposes, and neither your identity nor your specific feedback is shared with third parties.  However, under the following circumstances, your identity may be shared with third parties and/or associated with specific feedback: (i) when we have your permission, (ii) when we match user information with such third party’s data, and (iii) when we believe in good faith that the law requires it.  In all circumstances, the privacy of our panel members is protected, and if such sharing is permitted or required, your answers and identity will remain confidential.

Industry Sponsored Programs: Registered users will be asked to engage in industry-sponsored information programs from time to time in accordance with the Terms of Service. Examples of Sponsored Programs include custom-developed emails or web-based information resources featuring branded or unbranded commercial content, or interactive programs that provide information about medical conditions, treatments and products. Other types of Sponsored Programs may be made available to you through the Services via emails and website communications.

Members who participate agree that their name, specialty, profession, their interaction in the industry-sponsored programs, and the answers they provide can be shared with the industry sponsor. When you choose to engage in a Sponsored Program, you may be asked to provide personally identifiable information which may be used to supplement information about you that we have already received during member registration. In addition, we may collect information in connection with a transaction that you have requested (e.g. requests for information, sales rep visit, etc.) or responses to Sponsored Program questions, which, along with your identity, will be provided to the program’s sponsor. Even if you do not provide us with personally identifiable information, we collect non-personally identifiable information about your use of Sponsored Programs through cookies, as described in the “Usage Tracking and Cookies” section of the Privacy Policy.

The personally identifiable information that you provide when you engage in a Sponsored Program will be used to provide the services you have requested or authorized, respond to your questions, provide you the specific services you select and to send you emails about new programs and selected information from our sponsors as it relates to your specialty or area of clinical practice. You may also receive invitations to engage in other Sponsored Programs from the same sponsor or other sponsor. If you engage in a Sponsored Program, we may identify you by name to the sponsor of the Sponsored Program and/or its agent(s) on the sponsor’s behalf. We may also provide the sponsor with your specialty and country where you reside, based on your registration profile. You should read the privacy policy of the applicable sponsor and familiarize yourself with how such sponsor will treat your information. We are not responsible for how the sponsor and its agents use your information and manage your privacy. Further, we may use non-personally identifiable information for research purposes, and we may provide this information in aggregate to third parties. For example, we might inform third parties regarding the number of users of a Sponsored Program and the activities they conduct while engaged in the Program.

Career Center: By electing to use the Career Center, you are able to search for jobs in your area, register to receive emails about future job postings, and/or to permit employers and recruiters to contact you directly regarding job offerings. You may search job postings without being a registered user, but in order to apply for a job, receive email communications, participate in the interactive areas to be found at the Career Center or be contacted by an employer or recruiter interested in you for employment, you must be a registered member.

If you elect to use the “Post My CV” service [and/or the “M3 Career Consult” service], we will collect the following personally identifiable information:

  • Email address
  • Password
  • Name
  • Address
  • City
  • State
  • ZIP code
  • Phone number
  • Profession
  • Specialty(ies)
  • Board Status
  • Years in practice
  • Citizenship status
  • Licensure information
  • Education
  • Job preferences
  • Work experience

Your personally identifiable information allows us to share your job preferences and work experiences with prospective employers and recruiters, and communicate with you about potential employment opportunities.

Posting your CV on the Sites exposes you to thousands of potential employers and recruiters each day. We know that job seekers have varying levels of comfort when it comes to publishing their CV online. To accommodate the needs of all users, we offer two levels of CV privacy from which you can choose. Please note that these privacy settings only apply to whether or not your CV can be viewed by third parties. M3 will still collect, use or disclose anonymous, aggregated information about you and your visits to our website in the manner described elsewhere in this Privacy Policy.

Standard Posting

This option gives you the most visibility to the broadest employer and recruiter audience possible by making your CV searchable in our CV database. If you select this option, any registered employer or recruiter who purchases access to the database can view your CV and contact details (to the extent you include them in your CV).

Private Posting For Apply Online Only

This option allows you to post your CV on the Sites without having it searchable by or viewable to employers and recruiters. The benefit is that you can quickly and easily apply for jobs without retyping your information, and you provide your CV only to those employers you are specifically interested in.

We attempt to limit access to our searchable CV database to legitimate users such as paying employers, recruiters, hiring managers, headhunters and human resource professionals, but cannot guarantee that other parties will not gain access to this database. We cannot control the use of CVs by third parties who access such CVs while they are in our searchable database. You may remove your CV from our searchable database at any time. However, employers, recruiters and others who have paid for access to that database, as well as parties who have otherwise gained access to the database may have retained a copy of your CV in their own files or databases. We cannot control the retention, use or privacy of CVs or profiles that have been downloaded by third parties. Accordingly, you should not put information you would not want made public in your CV.

Affiliated Companies: M3 and its wholly-owned subsidiaries are part of the M3, Inc. group of companies that provide Internet services for physicians and other healthcare professionals around the world (collectively, “Affiliates”). M3 may share your personal information with Affiliates, which may use your personal information to send you emails about services they provide, new programs and selected information from their sponsors as it relates to your specialty or area of clinical practice.

Companies Who Work with Us: From time to time, we contract with third parties to help us provide or improve our services. For example, we may hire consultants who help us prevent fraud and violation of our terms of service, analyze data, provide marketing assistance, or provide customer service or fulfillment services. In order to provide these services, these third parties may have limited access to some of the personally identifiable information we maintain about users of our Services. We require all such parties to comply with the terms of this Privacy Policy, to limit their access to any personal information to the minimum necessary to perform their obligations, and not to use the information they may access for purposes other than fulfilling their responsibilities to us.

Quiz Games: If you rank highly, your named or registered pseudonym may appear on the live leaderboards, and in certain circumstances, to our members.  Your answers to the quiz questions are not shared.

Legal Requirements: We may release account and other personally identifiable information when we believe release (1) is required to comply with valid legal requirements such as a law, regulation, search warrant, subpoena or court order; or (2) is reasonably necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person, violations of our Terms and Conditions or this Privacy Policy, or as evidence in litigation in which we are involved. In the event that we are legally compelled to disclose your personally identifiable information to a third party, we will attempt to notify you unless doing so would violate the law, court order or government instruction.

Change of Control: M3 shall have the right to transfer, sell and/or distribute all personal information collected through the Services to an affiliate, subsidiary, or third party in the event of any reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer or other disposition of all or part of our business, assets or stock.

3. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may amend this Statement at any time; if we make changes to this Statement, we will post those changes on this page so that you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances we disclose it. This Statement was last revised on April 1, 2020. Any questions regarding our Privacy Policy Statement should be directed to M3 (support@usa.m3.com) for clarification and further elaboration.

4. Opt Out

M3 USA engages with users who register on our sites and elect for e-mail communication. For example, we may use your email address to send newsletters or discussion group updates, to send you notice of payments, to send you information about changes to our products and services, and to send notices and other disclosures as required by law.

We provide you the opportunity to exercise an opt-out choice if you do not want to receive other types of communication from us, such as emails or updates from us regarding new services and products offered on the Sites or if you do not want us to share your personally identifiable information with third parties.

Users always have the opportunity to “opt– out” or change preferences via a link in the footer of all non–transactional email messages or by accessing the “My Account” page on the registered site. These options are made available in email messages delivered from our company. Alternatively, you may request to have your personal information modified or removed from our databases by sending a request via email at support@usa.m3.com or by fax to 202-293-1690, including your first and last names and email address with which you originally registered.

5. Security of Information

M3 USA uses generally accepted industry standards and commercially reasonable security technology to protect the personal information collected by us, both during transmission and in storage. No method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure, however. Therefore, while we strive to use commercially reasonable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Note to Users Outside of the United States

M3 is located in the United States.  We collect, store and process your personal information and your use of the Services in the United States and these activities are governed by applicable United States laws and regulations and this Privacy Policy.  By using the Services, you consent to such collection, storage and processing in the United States, even though the United States may not afford the same level of data protection available in your own country.

6. EU Privacy Shield Compliance

M3 USA complies with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of personal information transferred from the European Union to the United States.  M3 USA has certified to the Department of Commerce that it adheres to the Privacy Shield Principles.  If there is any conflict between the terms in this privacy policy and the Privacy Shield Principles, the Privacy Shield Principles shall govern.  To learn more about the Privacy Shield program, and to view our certification, please visit https://www.privacyshield.gov/

In accordance to the U.S. – EU Privacy Shield principles, M3 USA has a liability in cases of onward transfers to third parties and complies with the Notice and Choice principles for all data disclosed or transferred to a third party.

Enforcement: M3 USA submits to being subject to the investigatory and enforcement powers of the FTC, the Department of Transportation, or any other U.S. authorized statutory body with regards to our self-certification and implementation of the Principles, and acknowledges the right of the EU individual, under certain conditions, to invoke binding arbitration, at no cost to the individual, in filing a complaint disputing M3 USA’s adherence to these practices

Dispute Resolution and Arbitration: In the event of any controversy, claim or dispute related to or arising out of your use of the Sites, EU citizens may initiate the following dispute resolution procedure:

  • Contact our organization directly at privacy@usa.m3.com; we will respond to your request within 45 days
  • Alternatively, individuals may also contact our Third Party Dispute Resolution Body, TRUSTe, as defined in the “Independent Dispute Resolution Body”; see Section C below.

Independent Dispute Resolution Body: In compliance with the Privacy Shield Principles, M3 USA commits to resolve complaints about our collection or use of your personal information.  Individuals in the European Union with inquiries or complaints regarding our Private Shield policy should first contact M3 USA at:

M3 USA Corporation
ATTN: Privacy Shield Compliance
501 Office Center Drive
Suite 410
Fort Washington, PA 19034

Or via e-mail at: privacy@usa.m3.com

If you have an unresolved privacy or data use concern that we have not addressed satisfactorily, please contact our U.S.-based third party dispute resolution provider (free of charge) at https://feedback-form.truste.com/watchdog/request.

Accessing and Updating your Personally Identifiable Information and Privacy Preferences: M3 USA will make commercially reasonable efforts to provide you reasonable access to any of your personally identifying information we maintain within 45 days of your access request. We provide this access so you can review it, make corrections or request deletion of your data. If we cannot honor your request within the 45-day period, we will tell you when we will provide access. In the unlikely event that we cannot provide you access to this information, we will explain why we cannot do so.

Mailing Address
  • M3 USA Corporation
    ATTN: Privacy Shield Compliance
    501 Office Center Drive
    Suite 410
    Fort Washington, PA 19034