A focus of the 2023 NIH Pragmatic Trials Collaboratory Annual Steering Committee Meeting was health equity in embedded pragmatic clinical trials (ePCTs). In an interview during the meeting, Drs. Anne Trontell and Ana Quiñones reflected on health equity in the ePCT landscape.

Trontell, who is the associate director for comparative clinical effectiveness research at the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), said that health equity is a key component of the patient-centered efforts underlying all of PCORI’s research.

“From its beginning, PCORI has dedicated research funding to address the unique needs of historically underserved populations. The achievement of health equity is one of PCORI’s 5 guiding National Priorities for Health,” said Trontell.

As a funder, PCORI directs funds to those who pursue health equity goals and targets specific requirements that are important to the development of equity-focused research, such as working with communities and emphasizing inclusivity and diversity in the institutions and participants in research.

“It is a multipronged effort, and one that we are very excited to participate in,” said Trontell.

Quiñones, who is the core lead for the NIA IMPACT Collaboratory Health Equity Team and an associate professor at Oregon Health & Science University, said she agrees that bringing health equity into ePCTs requires a team-based approach.

“We’ve learned that leaning on ‘health equity experts’ or relying on individuals to provide answers for big gaps in the research evidence base isn’t just unrealistic, it is probably not great practice either,” said Quiñones.

One thing the NIA IMPACT Collaboratory has done is ask everyone involved in the program to think about and contribute to the process. A resulting product of this requirement is a series of best-practice recommendations for integrating health equity into ePCTs for dementia that were created by asking experts from areas across the IMPACT Collaboratory to apply a health equity perspective to their area of expertise to collectively develop recommendations for some of the issues and hidden pitfalls.

“This doesn’t mean that you don’t need people who are deeply embedded and knowledgeable about the [health equity] work, and knowledgeable about the best scientific principles, asking questions, but it does mean that everybody is a participant in solving the problem, not just the health equity expert,” said Quiñones.

Trontell said that one way PCORI is supporting health equity is by funding the groundwork that can help researchers be successful, such as building relationships with diverse communities through its engagement awards. In addition, PCORI’s Phased Large Awards for Comparative Effectiveness Research (PLACER) opportunities fund a feasibility phase that supports study refinement, infrastructure establishment, stakeholder engagement, and feasibility testing of study operations, including the ability to recruit and enroll participants successfully.

“We have heard from our investigators that meaningful engagement deserves attention, effort, and time, so our engagement awards and PLACER funding opportunity offer upstream support for strong and diverse engagement to occur,” said Trontell.

Networks such as the NIA IMPACT Collaboratory and the NIH Pragmatic Trials Collaboratory have an important role to play in these efforts as well. Quiñones said these large research networks have opportunities to build synergies around common goals related to health equity and share knowledge and best practices.

Trontell agrees. “I’m a big fan of bringing people together to figure out something and to listen to each other, particularly when they have a shared goal and excitement around trading ideas and tips. That creates a real learning community.”

Learn more about the NIH Pragmatic Trials Collaboratory’s Health Equity Core and see the complete materials from the 2023 Steering Committee Meeting.