Design Pattern · September 2026
Cheapest next test
Reduce the most important uncertainty with the least time, money, access, and patient exposure reasonably required.
Under the pillar Evidence, Economics, and Rights
Choose
Name the decision, the assumption most likely to reverse it, an observable test, supporting and disconfirming results, threshold, budget, and owner.
Prefer behavior
Requests for data, access, implementation, review, repeat use, payment, or shared economics are stronger tests than expressions of interest.
Stop
Do not fund a larger experiment when a smaller one can invalidate the same assumption.
Put this to work
Cheapest next test application record
Apply Cheapest next test to a real piece of work and record what happened.
- For
- Clinical, operational, product, reimbursement, and implementation leaders.
- What you keep
- A cheapest next test application record you can review, revise, and send.
- What counts as sound
- Names a real setting
- Shows the work before and after
- Records exceptions
- Uses an observable result
- Ends with keep, revise, or stop
Clinical, regulatory, privacy, and release decisions remain with qualified people.
Nothing entered here is stored or sent. Review the prompt before sharing confidential, personal, patient, or privileged information.
Review the prompt
You can leave any field blank. The prompt will mark it as not provided.
If the record survives your review, send the question, evidence, unknowns, and requested next step.