Location: 368A Heady Hall

Description: Devin Pope CV
University of Chicago, Booth School of Business

"Number Processing, Medical Guidelines, and Doctor Decision Making"
Abstract: Guidelines structure peoples’ behavior in domains ranging from finance to medical decision-making. Guidelines offer a valuable rule of thumb, but they could lead to errors in complex environments if people adhere to guidelines rigidly. We use millions of patients’ blood test results to examine doctors’ reaction to new information for pervasive screening tests. We find that doctors rigidly adhere to medical guidelines. Although patients are comparable, doctors treat patients just above the medical guideline threshold substantially different from patients just below. We discuss potential reasons for rigid guideline adherence and implications for medical cost, patient health, and guideline design.

Contact Person: Elizabeth Hoffman

This lecture was made possible in part though patronage by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences F. Wendell Miller Lecture Fund.