October 11, 2019: Objecting to Experiments that Compare Two Unobjectionable Policies or Treatments: Implications for Comparative Effectiveness and Other Pragmatic Clinical Trials (Michelle Meyer, PhD, JD)

Speaker

Michelle N. Meyer, PhD, JD
Assistant Professor & Associate Director, Research Ethics
Center for Translational Bioethics & Health Care Policy
Faculty Co-Director, Behavioral Insights Team
Steele Institute for Health Innovation, Geisinger

Topic

Objecting to Experiments that Compare Two Unobjectionable Policies or Treatments: Implications for Comparative Effectiveness and Other Pragmatic Clinical Trials

Keywords

A vs B trials; Comparative effectiveness research; Clinical equipoise; Randomization; Learning health system

Key Points

  • Healthcare delivery systems often have an ethical obligation to experiment in order to determine the effects of their policies and treatments on stakeholders. A/B experiments conducted within health systems are intended to increase quality and safety, decrease waste or lower costs, and reduce inequity and injustice.
  • The “A/B effect” is the approval of untested policies or treatments (A or B) being universally implemented but disapproval of randomized experiments (A/B tests) to determine which of those policies or treatments is superior.
  • Experimentation aversion may be an important barrier to evidence-based practice.

Discussion Themes

Do you think the objection to random assignment is related to a sense that it is not “random?”

A potential solution to the “A/B effect” is to let patients be partners in improving healthcare by explaining that “we don’t know if A or B is better. Would you be willing to help us find out?”

Read Dr. Meyer and colleagues’ open access article in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (May 2019): Objecting to experiments that compare two unobjectionable policies or treatments.

Tags
#pctGR, @Collaboratory1