MH021 - 6 core items

There appears to be misinformation circling about this QOF indicator.

To summarise the basics and most commonly seen misunderstandings:

1. Comprehensive care plan (MH002) is not one of the six items related to MH021.
2. Patients can be excluded from MH021.
3. Your goal is to obtain data for 6 items to act as assessments of the patient's physical health so you can take action where required. This is the same work you've been doing for SMI checks since 2019.
   1. Smoking status
   2. Alcohol intake/status
   3. Body mass index
   4. Blood Pressure
   5. Cholesterol/lipid test
   6. Glucose/HbA1c test
4. Where a patient refuses one or more items, this can count towards excluding the patient from the indicator; but you must have data for all 6 items.
   i.e. If you obtain smoking status and alcohol intake, the patient must refuse the four other items to be excluded.
5. A lack of response to invitations is not a refusal and MH021 does not have personalised care adjustments (auto exclusion after invites). Ensure you contact the patient if they have not responded; where possible obtain data (smoking status, alcohol status and height/weight (BMI) don't need an in-person visit: phone call, Questionnaire via Communications Annexe etc); where patients refuse items (or to attend entirely) record this activity until you've got something for all 6 items (remember to check for other work that may need doing for this patient while in contact).

For general activity recording; use the Ardens condition template to record your review, including where patients may refuse individual items.

Note: One cannot refuse BMI directly, one refuses to have height or weight measured (only one is needed).

For data analysis/troubleshooting; use the Ardens Enhanced Service template. Click in each achievement and refusal entry to see the data on the right-hand side to determine where this is missing.

i.e. If you believe you've got data for all 6 items, but patient is showing red on QOF Timeline.

At the time of writing; both templates will appear in Search Features by typing SMI