Behavioral economic implementation strategies to improve serious illness communication between clinicians and high-risk patients with cancer: protocol for a cluster randomized pragmatic trial

Samuel U Takvorian, Justin Bekelman, Rinad S Beidas, Robert Schnoll, Alicia B W Clifton, Tasnim Salam, Peter Gabriel, E Paul Wileyto, Callie A Scott, David A Asch, Alison M Buttenheim, Katharine A Rendle, Krisda Chaiyachati, Rachel C Shelton, Sue Ware, Corey Chivers, Lynn M Schuchter, Pallavi Kumar, Lawrence N Shulman, Nina O'Connor, Adina Lieberman, Kelly Zentgraf, Ravi B Parikh, Samuel U Takvorian, Justin Bekelman, Rinad S Beidas, Robert Schnoll, Alicia B W Clifton, Tasnim Salam, Peter Gabriel, E Paul Wileyto, Callie A Scott, David A Asch, Alison M Buttenheim, Katharine A Rendle, Krisda Chaiyachati, Rachel C Shelton, Sue Ware, Corey Chivers, Lynn M Schuchter, Pallavi Kumar, Lawrence N Shulman, Nina O'Connor, Adina Lieberman, Kelly Zentgraf, Ravi B Parikh

Abstract

Background: Serious illness conversations (SICs) are an evidence-based approach to eliciting patients' values, goals, and care preferences that improve patient outcomes. However, most patients with cancer die without a documented SIC. Clinician-directed implementation strategies informed by behavioral economics ("nudges") that identify high-risk patients have shown promise in increasing SIC documentation among clinicians. It is unknown whether patient-directed nudges that normalize and prime patients towards SIC completion-either alone or in combination with clinician nudges that additionally compare performance relative to peers-may improve on this approach. Our objective is to test the effect of clinician- and patient-directed nudges as implementation strategies for increasing SIC completion among patients with cancer.

Methods: We will conduct a 2 × 2 factorial, cluster randomized pragmatic trial to test the effect of nudges to clinicians, patients, or both, compared to usual care, on SIC completion. Participants will include 166 medical and gynecologic oncology clinicians practicing at ten sites within a large academic health system and their approximately 5500 patients at high risk of predicted 6-month mortality based on a validated machine-learning prognostic algorithm. Data will be obtained via the electronic medical record, clinician survey, and semi-structured interviews with clinicians and patients. The primary outcome will be time to SIC documentation among high-risk patients. Secondary outcomes will include time to SIC documentation among all patients (assessing spillover effects), palliative care referral among high-risk patients, and aggressive end-of-life care utilization (composite of chemotherapy within 14 days before death, hospitalization within 30 days before death, or admission to hospice within 3 days before death) among high-risk decedents. We will assess moderators of the effect of implementation strategies and conduct semi-structured interviews with a subset of clinicians and patients to assess contextual factors that shape the effectiveness of nudges with an eye towards health equity.

Discussion: This will be the first pragmatic trial to evaluate clinician- and patient-directed nudges to promote SIC completion for patients with cancer. We expect the study to yield insights into the effectiveness of clinician and patient nudges as implementation strategies to improve SIC rates, and to uncover multilevel contextual factors that drive response to these strategies.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov , NCT04867850 . Registered on April 30, 2021.

Funding: National Cancer Institute P50CA244690.

Keywords: Advanced care planning; End-of-life cancer care; Pragmatic trials; Serious illness conversation.

Conflict of interest statement

Dr. Takvorian has provided consultation to Genentech and receives funding support from Pfizer unrelated to this research. Dr. Schnoll has provided consultation to Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, and Curaleaf and has received free medication and placebo from Pfizer for past studies. Dr. Asch is a partner at VAL Health. Dr. Beidas receives royalties from Oxford University Press. She has provided consultation to the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers. She currently consults to United Behavioral Health and serves on the Clinical and Scientific Advisory Board for Optum Behavioral Health. Dr. Bekelman reports grants from Pfizer, grants from UnitedHealth Group, grants from Embedded Healthcare, grants from Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, personal fees from UnitedHealthcare, personal fees from CMS, personal fees from NCCN, personal fees from Optum, personal fees from CVS Health, and personal fees from Astrazeneca (indirect via NCCN), outside the submitted work.

© 2021. The Author(s).

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
CONSORT diagram
Fig. 2
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Clinician nudge
Fig. 3
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Patient nudge

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