Independent Monitoring for Quality, Montgomery County, PA (IM4Q)
Independent Monitoring for Quality (IM4Q) is an information-gathering method the Pennsylvania Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) uses to improve the lives of individuals with an intellectual or developmental disability. Independent teams monitor the satisfaction and outcomes of a random sample of individuals receiving services statewide. Information is used to ensure that people are healthy and safe and to offer services that promote choice and control in their everyday lives. The Department's latest report in 2021 "Everyday Lives: Values in Action" can be found at the link below.
The foundation of Everyday Lives: Values in Action is two statements:
1. We value what is important to people with disabilities and their families, who are striving for an everyday life. An everyday life is about opportunities, relationships, rights, and responsibilities. It is about being a member of the community, having a valued role, making a contribution to society, and having one’s rights as a citizen fully respected. It is a vision that we should all be working toward together.
2. People with disabilities have a right to an everyday life; a life that is no different than that of all other citizens. This continues to be the truest statement on which we can build our work. Everyday Lives will be a guide to ODP as it develops policy and designs programs. Providers of services will use the recommendations of Everyday Lives to support individuals and their families to achieve an everyday life. Everyday Lives will guide everyone toward the possibility of an everyday life.
How It Works
Individuals who are receiving services are asked if an IM4Q team can interview them. They can choose whether or not to participate.
The interview team meets the individual where they feel most comfortable: at home or day program, for example.
The team, typically two or three people, has at least one member who is either an individual with a disability or a family member of an individual with a disability.
The team is independent, which means they are not from ODP, the county, or the individual's provider.
For more information, contact:
Sharon M. Beck, DIrector IM4Q Montgomery County, PA
267-218-3266
