To support practices with the management of QOF, Ardens has produced additional QOF searches to identify missing coding requirements and to help manage certain QOF indicators. 


To locate the searches, navigate to the Population Reporting module > 5.22 Contracts - QOF - Misc search folder.



1. QOF Housekeeping - reviews ?missing coding

To help practices identify annual reviews which have not been coded appropriately for QOF, the following searches have been made available:




Run all the searches and view the reports.


To understand which elements of the review the patient does not have included, the 'Check Patient' feature will help.  Further information on 'Check Patient' can be found here.


2. Breakdown of QOF conditions by patient

Provides a breakdown of patients by their QOF conditions. A separate search is also available for Care Home patients. 



Running and viewing the results of the reports, will clearly display which registers the patient is on.


3. BP needed for QOF 

This folder is broken down by 3 sub-folders.



The  Action - BP not done this year reports on patients needing a BP recorded for this financial year, a breakdown report is available to show by conditions.


The CVD Prevention folder identifies patients who are excepted from QOF, however they have a high BP reading.


The Data Quality folder contains two parent searches, each capturing the different QOF BP target ranges recorded in the last 12 months. We suggest you run these searches with a relative run date of the end of the fiscal year.



The parent searches are further broken down by:

  • Achieving QOF payment but latest single-value BP XX – this identifies patients who look to be achieving BP threshold for QOF but have a more recent BP recorded using single value codes which is above threshold. We recommend you review these patients for patient care.
  • Missing QOF payment but latest single-value BP XX – this identifies patients whose latest BP is within the QOF target, but this has been recorded using single-value codes. We recommend adding a dual-value code or appropriate home BP codes.


The correct QOF BP codes to be recorded can be found on the Ardens Hypertension template.


 

Each search will include an associated report to easily see the data.




4. BP out of range

This folder is broken down by 3 sub-folders, showing conditions for which BP needs to be within a certain range for QOF.  The searches display details of patients who have these conditions however their latest BP this financial year is out of this range.  The reports will show you the value of the latest BP.


5. Cervical screening QOF data quality

This folder contains a sub-folder of Data Quality searches to identify patients who may have had a smear or hysterectomy recorded, however the code is not a QOF acceptable code.  There are then searches to identify uptake for each target group.



6. Cholesterol indicator supporting searches

These searches have been provided to support the new QOF CHOL indicators.  Please note these are not the actual indicators, but provide searches to help you achieve the indicators.


The folder is broken down by 2 sub-folders.



The Work to do folder identifies outstanding work.



The Data Quality folder contains searches to support practices with identifying incorrect coding or missing data.



If re-recording a cholesterol code, the correct QOF codes are:


Non-HDL Cholesterol test result codes



LDL Cholesterol test result codes



7. HbA1c Out of Range

These searches identify patients on the diabetic register whose latest HbA1c is out of range.



8. LD Data Quality - Jan 2024

In December the Learning Disability Register "LD_COD" code cluster was updated. GP practices may have noticed that some patients without LD have appeared on their QOF LD Register. This may impact IIF achievement for relevant LD indicators, and also others that use this register. NHSE has now issued a further update of this code cluster that should improve the accuracy of the LD register once it has been implemented by clinical system suppliers. 


The searches included in this folder are based on the latest version of the update and will help you to identify patients who have been added to/removed from your register (based on the latest codelist), so that they can be reviewed as needed.



The searches can be actioned as follows:

  • LD004 - DQ-? need code review to keep on LD register - These patients were temporarily included in the November 2023 NHS update to LD_COD but were removed again in the latest Jan 2024 update. You may wish to review these patients and add a code (e.g. Learning Disability) to retain them on the register if appropriate.
  • LD004 - DQ -Newly on LD register following Jan 24 NHS update - These patients have codes which have newly included them on the LD register after the update. You may wish to invite these patients for an LD Health assessment.
  • LD004 - DQ - Not on QOF register but may have LD as review code only - The LD QOF register looks only for patients with episodes other than 'review' or 'end'. These patients appear never to have had a 'new' problem code entered and may need review. You may wish to update the recorded episode appropriately. 
  • LD004 - DQ - Previously on LD register - removed in Jan 24 NHSE update - These patients were previously on the LD register but have been removed following the January 24 update to LD_COD. You may wish to review these patients and add a code (e.g. Learning Disability) to retain them on the register if appropriate.


9. COPD14 Data Quality - Jan 2024

In December the "Pulmonary Rehabilitation offered" code was removed from the "PULREHABOFF_COD" code cluster, leaving just the "Pulmonary rehabilitation referral" code. This means that patients who were coded as "Pulmonary Rehabilitation offered" will no longer achieve COPD014. We understand that the "Pulmonary rehabilitation declined" code is in the process of being added back in, which will provide a solution for those patients that have declined. 


The search included in this folder will provide a list of patients that have been recorded with the "Pulmonary Rehabilitation offered" code and have not been referred or declined. You may wish to review these patients and code with referred or declined (when available). 



10. AF008 Housekeeping

The following searches will highlight patients who are failing the AF008 QOF  indicator:


AF008 - In those patients with atrial fibrillation with record of a CHA2DS2-VASc score of >=2, the percentage of patients who are currently treated with a direct-acting oral anticoagulant (DOAC), or, where a DOAC was declined or clinically unsuitable, a Vitamin K antagonist.


The first search will show the total number of patients on Warfarin but they are failing this indicator. This is further broken into sub searches with the reason why:

  • ?Code TTR as no TTR recorded - these patients need to be coded with their latest INR TTR. The results of this can be located in your pathology or INRstar system and will need to be manually entered into the patient record. 
  • ?Consider coding "DOAC not indicated" as latest TTR at least 65 - we recommend reviewing the patient record and deciding if it is appropriate to add the "DOAC not indicated" code.
  • ?Consider DOAC as latest TTR less then 65 - we recommend reviewing the patient record and deciding if it is appropriate to consider DOAC for the patient.


11. MH021 MH Health Checks

This folder contains a search and report to help practices identify patients missing any elements of their physical health checks.



The report helps visually see which element it is:




If you require any further assistance on the process above, please contact Ardens support on: support-emis@ardens.org.uk