In 1996, during a routine visit to one of his patients in a Maryland nursing home, Dr. Edward C. “Terry” Watters noticed that her sight-threatening condition had worsened since his last visit. He discovered that his orders for treatment had not been followed, and as he was noting this in the patient’s chart, a staff member asked him not to do so because that would “cause problems” for the home—financially and with state reporting agencies. The staff member exhibited no sympathy for any pain the patient might be experiencing because of the failure to follow the treatment regimen. 

During the course of several visits, Terry noted in the chart additional times when the prescribed regimen hadn't been followed and confronted the staff about the problem. The last straw came when a staff member informed Terry that his notes had been removed from the chart because they would be a "red flag" to state auditors. (Dr. Watters subsequently learned that another patient in the home had recently died and that some of the evidence also suggested falsification of records, in this case regarding the details of the death.) 

Dr. Watters knew that the standards of care had been violated and the patients had suffered greatly because of this. He drew up a plan of action to help reduce the likelihood of such incidents in the future. He and a partner, Dennis Steele, learned how to petition for government reports about nursing homes—among them the federal Online Survey Certification and Reporting (OSCAR) 3 and 4 data—and how to read them. As they assembled the facts and ran statistical analyses, a bleak picture emerged of understaffing, physical abuse, untreated bedsores, and coldhearted decision-making by home operators and state officials charged with monitoring facilities.  

MemberoftheFamily.net first made its data available to the Veterans Administration in Washington, D.C, and North Carolina, analyzing for the agency government reports about nursing homes in which veterans reside. Now 22 Veterans Administration offices across the country subscribe to our service. Since 1999, we have made our research about more than 16,000 nursing homes available to the general public, providing easy-to-understand information from state and federal government reports.  

One of the site’s most useful sections is the National Watch List of all the nursing homes in the country that have been cited in government reports for causing "Actual Harm," Severity Code "G" or higher. We have also added a Registry of U.S. Nursing Homes, which lists all the Medicare-and Medicaid-certified nursing homes in the country.

Comments from Site Users

MemberoftheFamily.net receives numerous emails and letters of support each week from families and individuals. Administrators also contact the site, sometimes to say thanks for helping to improve the industry and sometimes to discuss or question reported survey results. Below are a few sample comments from MemberoftheFamily.net users: 

"I have told everybody that I know what your site has done for us .... You really did save the day. If I had the same information (but not from you) I wouldn't have had the clear presentation which both my parents were able to understand." —T.M., March 2, 2003

“I am currently looking for a place for my mother – which is the most traumatic experience I have ever had. With this information at least I feel I am not approaching this task completely blind.” —B. H., July 24, 2002

“This is to let you know that the information on www.memberofthefamily.net was used to improve conditions for my mother in a facility listed on the page. I received a call from the administrator and an apology.” —T. J., July 30, 2002

“Your web site is WONDERFUL - it helped me get a better understanding of the ‘system’ . . . now I am armed with information and can make a more educated decision . . . know what questions to ask and so forth. . . . Thanks for listening.”  —P.A., February 1, 2002  

“I am so glad that I happened upon the nursing home list in Oklahoma. Unfortunately I had Mom in . . . one of the homes listed in the Harm list. . . . She is now in another home. . . . I will ask the owner for the reports that you mentioned. . . . Thank you again. —N.M., December 23, 2001 

“. . . .The reason we depend upon MemberoftheFamily for info is because the state does not put the information on their new nursing home website for quality indicators if it is a small facility.” —Mrs. M. M., December 22, 2001 

Located in Severna Park, Maryland, MemberoftheFamily.net is not affiliated with any other organization. All our efforts to date have been self-funded. Continuing this effort is a daunting task. We will need expanded support and funding as we carry this work forward. If you feel you can help us in any way, please contact us.