What's the difference between "QOF AND Best Practice" and "QOF only"?

When sending annual review invites, there are 2 main sections for invites:

Section 2 - is for QOF and Best Practice and Section 3 is for QOF only - but what's the difference?!

QOF Only

It's easiest to start by explaining what we include in QOF only. By "QOF only" we mean reviews needed to achieve QOF targets. We also include Learning Disability health checks in this list as though they're not QOF, they're a significant practice target that all practices prioritise.

This is the current list of Annual Reviews we include in QOF only:

• Asthma
• COPD
• Dementia*
• Diabetes
• Heart Failure (Physical and Medication Review)
• Hypertension
• Learning Disability Health Check*
• Mental Health (Physical Checks and Care Plan)*
• Non-diabetic Hyperglycaemia / Pre-Diabetes
• Secondary Prevention of Coronary Heart Disease
• Stroke And Transient Ischaemic Attacks (TIA)

*can be removed from practice invites if you prefer to invite these separately

QOF and Best Practice 

QOF and Best Practice includes everything in QOF only

AND other conditions that should have annual monitoring:

• Atrial Fibrillation**
• Bariatric Surgery
• Chronic Kidney Disease
• Coeliac
• Familial Hypercholesterolaemia
• Haemochromatosis**
• MGUS (Monoclonal Gammopathy of Unknown Significance)**
• Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
• PCOS**
• Peripheral Arterial Disease
• Primary biliary cirrhosis
• Prostate Cancer
• Rheumatoid Arthritis**
• Thyroid Conditions
• Thyroid Peroxidase (Raised)**

**can be opted out of

AND any medications that need annual monitoring:

• ACE/ARB
• Acetazolamide
• Agomelatine
• Aliskiren
• Anticholinesterases / Memantine
• Antipsychotics
• B12 (Oral only)
• Calcium Supplements
• Carbamazepine
• Combined Hormonal Contraception
• Corticosteroids (Oral) (unless monitored more frequently) 
• Digoxin 
• DOAC (unless monitored more frequently)
• Gabapentin / Pregabalin
• Gout and Uric acid metabolism drugs
• HRT
• Iron
• Ivabradine
• Lamotrigine
• Lipid Regulating Agent (e.g. Statin / Ezetimibe) on repeat (if already having annual bloods)
• Magnesium
• Mesalazine / Olsalazine / Balsalazide
• Metformin
• NSAIDS (on repeat or issued >9 times in last 12m)
• Paracetamol (on repeat or issued >9 times in last 12m)
• Phenytoin
• Prostate Meds (e.g. Finasteride)
• Riluzole
• Sulfasalazine
• Testosterone Replacement
• Theophylline
• Thiazides and related diuretics
• Thyroid Hormones
• Valproate (e.g. Epilim) / Valproic Acid
• Warfarin (Vitamin K antagonists)

AND any patients who've had annual monitoring configured 

AND any additional reviews your practice has opted into:

• Epilepsy
• High Risk CVD (QRISK>10%)
• Proactive Care - Care plan Admissions Avoidance Register
• SSRI / Annual Depression Review
• Women's health: CHC, POP
• Women's health: Depo Provera (inc Sayana Press)
• Women's health: HRT
• Women's health: Vaginal Oestrogen HRT

This is obviously a much longer list but there will be a lot of overlap and so the numbers of patients may not be that much higher.

Many practices aim to do QOF and Best Practice but find at times of high demand or low capacity, they prefer to revert to the QOF only invites if needed.