Terms of Service — Shield Tracker

Effective date: January 1, 2026

Agreement

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern your organization’s use of the Shield Tracker platform (“Service”). By accessing or using the Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms.

Service Description

Shield Tracker is a web-based software platform for managing U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals and Best Children’s Hospitals survey submissions including data entry, review and approval workflows, analytics, export, and related functionality.

Subscription & Payment

Access to the Service requires an active annual subscription
Subscription fees are billed annually in advance and are non-refundable except as required by law
Your subscription includes the number of service lines specified in your order and unlimited user accounts
Additional service lines may be added at pro-rated cost

Your Responsibilities

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of user credentials within your organization
You are responsible for the accuracy of survey data entered into the platform
You agree not to attempt to reverse engineer, decompile, or access the Service’s source code

Data Ownership

Your organization retains full ownership of all survey data, documents, comments, and other content entered into Shield Tracker. We claim no intellectual property rights over your data. You grant us a limited license to host, process, and display your data solely for the purpose of providing the Service.

Service Availability

We target 99.9% uptime for the Service, measured monthly excluding scheduled maintenance. We are not liable for downtime caused by factors outside our reasonable control.

Limitation of Liability

Shield Tracker is a survey management tool. We do not guarantee any specific USNWR ranking outcome. Our liability is limited to the amount paid by your organization in the 12 months preceding the claim. We are not liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages.

Termination

Either party may terminate at the end of the current annual term with 60 days written notice. Upon termination, you will have 90 days to export your data before permanent deletion.

Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware.

Contact

For questions about these Terms, contact legal@shieldtracker.com.