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QOF new indicators: what’s next?

QOF new indicators: what’s next?
18 April 2012



I tend to enter April with a sense of relief as most of the QOF data has been honed and polished and sent off.

This has been even greater this year as all of the reports for the QP indicators have had to be prepared for the end of March also. I tend to sign off on QMAS with the doctors and practice manager crowded around the computer to see it on its way. I can never resist a dramatic flourish for the final click on the mouse.

I tend to enter April with a sense of relief as most of the QOF data has been honed and polished and sent off.

This has been even greater this year as all of the reports for the QP indicators have had to be prepared for the end of March also. I tend to sign off on QMAS with the doctors and practice manager crowded around the computer to see it on its way. I can never resist a dramatic flourish for the final click on the mouse.

It is not quite all tied up – the osteoporosis and alcohol DES reports need to be in by the end of April and it will be a couple of months before the PCT has the data for the prescribing indicators but it certainly marks a milestone.


There is a temptation to relax a bit now after the effort of the last few months. Frankly I think we deserve it. The heat is off, particularly as the newer indicators have not appeared on the computer system yet.


There are a couple of things I want to get done now to make things easier later. There are some new multi-part indicators this year. In these there is a need to identify the patients and then perform an action.  In order to see how we are doing we need to identify the populations at risk.

There is a new area for peripheral vascular disease. In order that we know who we should be measuring cholesterol levels on we need to have a good register. I am really not sure how good our register is at the moment and need to look at how we are coding this. There are not many “clues” in the records such as particular drugs or lab values.


Adding CHADS2 scores to patients with atrial fibrillation will be a dull job but should give an early clue about who will need approaching about anticoagulation. I have grabbed the GRASP-AF search from PRIMIS to do the calculation although this may disappear soon.


Catching patients with fragility fractures is another area new to QOF although the DES was similar. We have tried to catch these as they come in with a check on A&E and hospital data later on.

Unfortunately the data we are currently getting from the hospital does not allow use to do this any longer and it has been quite difficult to find patients in the lower age group. There don’t seem to be enough patients falling over. This is a problem for QOF – if we don’t have at least one patient in this category well will lose the points. I am in a larger than average practice – this will be a bigger problem for those of you in smaller practices.


I also need to remember to code smoking cessation advice on all smokers – not just those with chronic disease. This may not turn out to be such a quiet April at all.

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