As we are all more than aware, prevention is better than cure and with that in mind, the QOF programme is a great tool for assisting GP practices in spotting health issues early. They are also an important source of income for GPs. You can find the 2021/22 guidance <<here>>, the value of a QOF point currently stands at £194.83 and although there is QOF income on offer, GPs are currently facing intense workforce and workload pressures which have been made worse by the pandemic. Post-covid, surgeries are struggling to meet the increasing demand for appointments and are looking to new ways of working as they open fully. As part of re-opening, our self-screening kiosks can play an important role in managing patient flow. The self-screening kiosk can take the strain of routine monitoring and simultaneously contribute to QOF point collection, as well as allowing more face-to-face appointment time for high-risk patients.
So, how can our kiosks help with QOF?
Our self-screening kiosks can help GPs to meet their QOF targets by allowing patients to take vital signs checks and answer health questions at a time convenient to them.
● Blood pressure - Why not invite all patients to take their blood pressure on arrival? Results are uploaded straight into the patient record with alerts sent if parameters are breached – no need for manual entry of slips of paper!
● Asthma - Ask your Asthma clinic patients to regularly complete pathway questions on the kiosk at a time convenient to them.
● Smoking status - Smoking questions are included in all questionnaire pathways on the kiosk with results uploaded into the patient record.
● Meet your BMI targets by asking patients to use the integrated height and weight machine to record BMI directly into their record.
The data is integrated directly into the patient record via SNOMED coding with alerts sent to the GP if parameters are breached.
There are also other innovative ways to collect more QOF points that take very little effort, but will earn your practice some essential funding...
Incorporate a text service: This can be used to increase awareness of certain local campaigns that your health authority may be running, for example you can quickly collect points by advising smokers of help locally available to quit smoking for good.
Use seasonal surges in appointments: Whilst arranging your flu vaccine drive, why not suggest that patients take advantage of this trip to the surgery by taking a health check. Take the opportunity at flu vaccine clinics or any other clinics where multiple patients are present, to ask them to have their blood pressure, height, weight and BMI recorded by the kiosk all at the same visit.
Pregnancy Influenza Vaccines – send the pregnant women on your list an invitation to take a flu jab and use the kiosk to make their vital sign checks.
Keep an eye out for patient code errors: These can be detrimental to all the hard work you are putting in to collect your QOF points! So, ensure that your in-house checking picks up where your practice has incorrectly coded certain patients. Discovering patients who have been incorrectly coded will help to regain value which can total a substantial amount of money and will ensure that the patients are invited in for appropriate testing and monitoring.
As you can see, our self-screening kiosk can take the strain of routine monitoring and simultaneously contribute to QOF point collection, allowing more face-to-face appointment time for high-risk patients. To book your demo contact us by email hello@ekinteractive.co.uk or call - 01223 812737.
Comments