KLAS Data Use Policy

Please read this data use policy in its entirety before sharing KLAS materials outside of your organization.

KLAS spends hundreds of thousands of staff hours each year to bring impactful research to the healthcare IT industry. This data use policy is intended to help KLAS customers appropriately share that research while retaining the accurate, honest, and impartial intent of KLAS materials as originally published. If you have any questions about this policy, please contact us at datause@klasresearch.com. This policy is subject to change without notice.

Authorized Access

All KLAS data, reports, articles, images, and other works of authorship (hereafter referred to as “KLAS materials”) are copyrighted. This policy sets forth the guidelines by which individuals and organizations with authorized access may share those materials, both within their own organizations and with external parties.

Defining authorized access:

• Provider, payer, and employer organizations gain authorized access to KLAS materials via a paid membership or by sharing feedback on the software and services in use at their organizations.
• Vendors, service firms, investment firms, etc. gain authorized access to KLAS materials via a paid membership or the purchase of individual KLAS materials (e.g., reports). KLAS does not allow any provider, payer, or employer organization to share their KLAS account or login with vendors, service firms, or any other organization. Individuals or organizations found to be granting others unauthorized access to KLAS materials or their KLAS account will have their account access restricted.

General Guidelines

Within your own organization, you may freely share KLAS materials to increase awareness of your customers’ successes and challenges. All KLAS materials shared outside of your organization (whether in digital or printed form) must comply with the guidelines outlined in this policy.

• As a rule, KLAS data that is shared outside your organization must be independently verifiable by other KLAS customers (i.e., they can come to the KLAS website and verify your statements).
• Any KLAS materials shared must include an attribution to KLAS as well as the date sourced.
  • If the material comes from a KLAS report, the report name must be included as well.
• Any content you create around KLAS scores must focus on your own company’s performance and may not mention or compare the scores or performances of competitors.
• If your data is marked with any product designations—e.g., “limited data,” “not primary,” “emerging data,” etc.—that must be included in your attribution.
• KLAS data on one product or segment cannot be used to promote another product or segment from your organization’s product line. (e.g., You cannot cite an exceptional executive involvement score for one product as evidence that your company excels in this metric across all products.)

KLAS Review of Shared Materials

As long as the sharing or distributing of KLAS materials meets the guidelines in this policy, preapproval from KLAS is not required.

• Exception: During the release of the annual Best in KLAS report, preapproval is required for all KLAS materials being shared externally. This requirement is in effect for any materials shared 15 business days prior to the Best in KLAS report publication date and 45 days after the publication date.

If you are unsure whether your content meets this policy’s guidelines, you may send it to KLAS for review before publication or distribution. Please send submissions to datause@klasresearch.com.

• When submitting content for review, please include the KLAS source (e.g., report name and page, webpage, etc.). Requests submitted without the required citations will be sent back so that the citations can be added.
• Data use requests are usually processed within two business days. If you have an urgent request, please mark the email as urgent, and we will do our best to accommodate.

Failure to follow the guidelines in this policy will result in KLAS taking any or all of the following actions:

• KLAS will ask you to remove/stop using/take down the piece containing KLAS material.
• KLAS will issue a clarification via press release, social media, newsletter, and/or other means outlining the inaccurate sharing of KLAS material and include the appropriate KLAS material for comparison.
• KLAS will immediately expire the publishing organization’s membership if the organization refuses to acknowledge and make changes to the inaccurate sharing of KLAS materials.

KLAS Materials That CAN Be Shared Outside of Your Organization

1. Rankings/Scores from the annual Best in KLAS Report
   • During the release of the annual Best in KLAS report, preapproval is required for all KLAS materials being shared externally. This requirement is in effect for any materials shared 15 business days prior to the Best in KLAS report publication date and 45 days after the publication date. Outside of this time frame, preapproval is not required as long as the materials comply with the guidelines outlined in this policy.
   • Vendors may share their scores and rankings from the Best in KLAS report.
   • The Best in KLAS report is the only case where a vendor can use definitive statements about their positioning. For instance, if you are a Best in KLAS award winner, you can use phrases such as “the top performer,” “number one in [segment], “the market leader,” etc.
   • When sharing a Best in KLAS award, please use the logo that is specific to the market segment you won (i.e., “Application Hosting”). The generic “Best in KLAS, Software & Services” award can be used to reference multiple awards, provided the name of each relevant segment and year is included in the promotional material. The Best in KLAS and Category Leader logos cannot be redesigned or adjusted.
   • As of January 2021, KLAS no longer gives Category Leader awards. All awards now receive the designation of “Best in KLAS.” This change is not retroactive—Category Leader awards from previous years can be promoted only as Category Leader awards.
   • A Best in KLAS or Category Leader award can be used indefinitely, but the year and market segment must always be included.
   • Data from the Solutions Not Ranked sections in the Best in KLAS report are not eligible for Best in KLAS rankings, and vendors in this section may not claim ranking or positioning of any kind. However, they may share their overall performance scores, trend data, and customer experience pillar grades.
2. Ratings/Scores from Other KLAS Reports
   • Vendors may share their scores from other KLAS reports, but they may not indicate that they are “ranked.” You can indicate that you are “rated” or “reviewed” in a KLAS report.
     • The term “ranked” can be used only in reference to Best in KLAS data.
   • Instead of phrases that focus on ranking, use phrases such as “a top performer” and “a high scorer.” Use of such phrases is allowed onlyif you are:
     • One of a segment’s top three vendors in terms of overall performance score
     • Not listed as limited data
   • When referencing a report score or other performance findings, you must include the report title and publication month and year.
3. Customer Quotes and Comments from the KLAS Website, Published Reports, etc.
   • You may only share customer quotes or comments that are specifically about your product.
   • Only the full quotes as presented are permissible.
     • If you need to shorten a quote for length, please email the proposed changes to KLAS for approval. Note that KLAS reserves the right to withhold approval if we feel the edits change the tone of the quote or remove important context.
   • Include the full quote, job title, and date.
     • Example: "[Full quote.]" Manager, March 2024
   • KLAS user commentary included in promotional or other materials must be no older than 36 months at the time of use. This ensures that others can verify the comment on the website (comments drop off the website after 36 months).
   • The comparison summaries generated from KLAS’ website are only for use in one-on-one engagements between your organization and potential customers and must be presented in full.
   • Scores from the KLAS live score widget are permitted for sharing on your company’s website. They are not permitted for sharing in slide decks, printed materials, or any other static format.
     • For more information on accessing the live score widget, contact your KLAS representative.
4. Images (Including all charts and graphs)
   • You can share up to two images from a report. You must include the full chart, report title, and date.
     • You may not alter images for sharing or rechart the data into your own formatting and branding.
5. Published KLAS Reports and KLAS Articles
   • Full versions of published reports can be shared externally only if you purchase KLAS distribution rights. Contact your KLAS representative for more information about distribution rights.
     • You may share website links to published reports freely.
   • Complimentary reports (white papers) and KLAS articles (i.e., blogs) can be shared without restriction.
6. Awards and Logos
   • KLAS logos are protected trademarks. This includes the KLAS logo, Best in KLAS logo, Category Leader logo, KLAS Customer Rated badge, Emerging Solutions Top 20 logo, KLAS Arch Collaborative Member badge, KLAS K2 Collaborative Points of Light logo, etc.
   • KLAS logos and badges can be displayed only by the organizations to which they were awarded. They cannot be altered in any way.
7. KLAS Arch Collaborative Data
   • Impact Reports (https://klasresearch.com/archcollaborative/reports)
     • Executive Insights: Members of the KLAS Arch Collaborative can freely share the Executive Insights sections of Arch Impact Reports with any individual inside or outside their organization.
     • Full reports: Full reports (or any individual piece of content from a full report) cannot be shared—in digital or physical form—outside of member organizations.
   • Case Studies (https://klasresearch.com/archcollaborative/casestudies)
     • Healthcare organizations: Healthcare organizations are encouraged to promote their own organization’s case study and related Arch metrics (e.g., “We scored in the 99^th percentile for initial training”) as long as KLAS is properly cited by including the report/case study name and publication month and year.
     • Vendor/firm members: Vendors and firms with an Arch membership can reference case study details with customers on a one-off basis. However, they cannot share physical or digital copies of a case study with any individual or organization.
       • Exception: Vendors/firms highlighted in a customer case study can promote the case study via web and distribute digital or physical copies.
   • Webinars are intended for member use only and cannot be shared outside of member organizations.
   • General Guidelines
     • Data from the Arch Collaborative is not ranked, meaning a vendor or healthcare organization cannot assign any kind of ranking to their data. For example, statements such as “We’re #1 as ranked by the Arch Collaborative” are not permitted.
     • Vendors and firms with an Arch membership can share aggregated, vendor-specific customer data outside their organizations as long as only their own customer data is shared and there is no benchmarking or comparison to other vendors.
     • Custom data prepared by KLAS cannot be used outside of the organization to whom it was provided.
     • Active Arch Collaborative members can request an anonymized data set from KLAS for use in academic research purposes. Any Arch Collaborative data used for academic research purposes must properly cite KLAS and include a link to https://klasresearch.com/arch-collaborative.

KLAS Materials That CANNOT Be Shared Outside of Your Organization

• KLAS materials provided to you during an executive consulting session with KLAS (e.g., Deep Dive, Quarterly Update, KCS) are NOT permitted for external use.
  • The exception is if this data is also available on the KLAS website, in KLAS reports, or in other KLAS content that meets the criteria established in this policy.
• Live scores, grades, trend data, or positioning from the KLAS website cannot be shared as this data updates daily. The exception is the use of the KLAS live score widget (see above).

Use of KLAS Data/Materials in Artificial Intelligence Tools

• External/Public AI Tools: Customers are expressly forbidden from inputting into, linking to, pairing with, or otherwise using KLAS materials, either full or in part, with any artificial intelligence system, including but not limited to generative AI (such as ChatGPT, Bard), algorithmic AI, or other AI platforms that are accessible to the public, which use has the potential to expose KLAS materials to an AI’s model training. This prohibition also applies to private AI tools that allow access to or use by individuals who are not part of the customer’s organization.
• Internal/Private AI Tools: The customer is permitted to engage KLAS materials with internal AI tools under the condition that such engagement does not lead to the public dissemination of KLAS materials as identified above. This includes prohibiting the inclusion of KLAS materials in public databases and the provision of access to unauthorized third parties who have not paid to access KLAS materials. Customers utilizing third-party AI tools must have agreements in place guaranteeing their adherence to safeguarding KLAS materials as defined above. Furthermore, the customer is not allowed to resell, publish, or distribute any analysis or results derived from the use of KLAS materials and AI outside of their own organization.