Ardens includes a comprehensive suite of Case Finding searches to support practices to improve data quality and ensure QOF payments are correctly calculated.
For full detail on how to use the Case Finder Searches, we strongly recommend downloading the following user guide using the link here.
Locating the Case Finder Searches
To access the searches navigate to the Population Reporting module > Ardens Searches > 5.00 Contracts - QOF - Case Finders search folder.
Running the Searches
We suggest running the searches by sub folder, right click on the required condition folder and click Run, there is no need to set relative run dates.
Once run, the reports will display the number of patients who may be 'missing' from the QOF register.
The first report will display the total number of patients for that particular register, further reports are available to narrow down by particular criteria.
The reports can be viewed (View Results) to display the patient details.
Access the patient record to investigate further and amend/apply the relevant clinical codes. Further guidance for each condition can be viewed in the user guide.
Record Review Code Protocol
A protocol is available to be able to record that a record has been reviewed, tagging the record as the patient either needing further action or no action. This protocol will need to be downloaded from the Ardens Portal for Template Manager sites, Resource Publisher sites will automatically have this within your EMIS system.
The protocol needs to be added to the F12 key (this is required for each individual), adding the protocol "Ardens QOF Casefinders - Record Review Protocol".
On launching the protocol in the patient record, this will display a multiple choice question with options to select which condition the record has been checked for. Selecting the required option will then allow you to record 'action required' or 'no action at this time'.
This will apply the code in the record and be visible when viewing the case finder reports.
Technical Information (for those that are interested)
We have extracted diagnosis codes from the QOF Business rules in order to help practices use the correct code to add patients onto a QOF register. Please see this spreadsheet (opens in new window) for details of diagnosis codes by register.
For those that are interested, the full QOF business rules can be found here and there is also the full primary care refsets available to browse here.
Many people are not aware of the importance of prevalence and the relevance of it in terms of your practice's QOF income. There is more information about this in this support article.
We have also created a table that shows QOF domain income per patient (attachment below) and we recommend you view this as it will help you understand the value of individual patients diagnosed with a QOF-related condition.
If you need further support please email our support desk - support-emis@ardens.org.uk