Independent Monitoring

Independent Monitoring for Quality

The Arc of Greater Pittsburgh serving Allegheny and Beaver Counties provides independent monitoring of individual with intellectual disabilities living in residential settings in Beaver County and for individuals who were born in Beaver County and living in state centers.

Independent Monitoring for Quality, also known as IM4Q, is a system of measuring quality that relies on information gathered from individuals receiving services and their families by people in the community who are independent of the services being delivered.

“IM4Q is all about improving the quality of life for the consumers they serve and in my opinion, nothing is more important than that.”

History

Independent Monitoring for Quality is an outgrowth of the Multi-Year Plan for Pennsylvania's mental retardation system, presented to the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare by the Planning Advisory Committee (PAC) to the Office of Mental Retardation (OMR) in July 1997. The Multi-Year Plan called for the creation of independent teams at the local level to monitor the quality of services delivered. The teams are comprised of individuals with disabilities, family representatives and advocates charged with the responsibility of assessing the quality of supports and services provided to individuals and families. Quality is measured in terms of outcomes as well as satisfaction.

How Independent Monitoring for Quality Works

Independent Monitoring for Quality relies on trained independent monitoring teams to interview people receiving services and their families about the quality of their services in the context of their everyday lives.

People are selected to ensure that every individual who lives in a state licensed community residence has an opportunity to be interviewed at least once every three years. Interviews are also conducted with people who live with their family, host or life-sharing families, independently, in intermediate care facilities (ICFs/MR), nursing facilities and personal care homes.

Local independent monitoring programs are contracted by County Mental Health/Mental Retardation Programs (MH/MR) across the state to support independent monitoring teams, to data enter information from the interviews, and to initiate a process called "closing the loop", which ensures that the individual/family issues and concerns are referred to the County MH/MR Program to take appropriate action. Technical support for Independent Monitoring for Quality is provided by qualified university affiliated researchers at the Institute on Disabilities, Temple University.

Reports generated from Independent Monitoring for Quality interviews are shared with provider agencies, County MH/MR Programs, the Planning Advisory Committee for the Office of Mental Retardation for purposes of quality improvement. Actions are planned and checked for effectiveness through subsequent Independent Monitoring for Quality interviews, supports coordination and other quality improvement measures.

Please note the public cannot request this service as the Office of Mental Retardation determines who receives this service.  For more information please contact Sue Hillen-Jones at 724-775-1602 ext. 18 or via email at shillen-jones@achieva.info. For additional information about ACHIEVA’s advocacy services, click here.