For more than 40 years, the Annual Research Meeting (ARM) has been the trusted forum for thousands of people working to improve health and health care — from researchers and policymakers to health system leaders and community partners.
Robyn Rapaport Poster Presentation
Sunday, May 31, 2026 | Hall 4AB (Level 4, Seattle Convention Center)
Research Objective:
It’s well known that the American health care experience is complex for consumers. One manifestation of this complexity is in ensuring the accuracy of survey data assessing healthcare affordability for consumers. This two-phase qualitative study was conducted in preparation for the 2025 Commonwealth Fund Health Care Affordability Survey to: (1) gather a deep understanding of cost-related challenges people with commercial insurance face and (2) leverage those learnings to revise items from the 2023 Affordability Survey regarding the prevalence of billing errors, coverage denials, and medical debt in the US.
Molly Fisch-Friedman Poster Presentation
Sunday, May 31, 2026 | Hall 4AB (Level 4, Seattle Convention Center)
Research Objective: A key challenge conducting international survey research about healthcare is ensuring questions are meaningful for respondents within each country and across all countries the survey is administered. This is particularly challenging for questions about mental health, which can be sensitive and stigmatized. Qualitative research conducted by SSRS suggests some older adults may be dismissive of the idea of needing mental health treatment, with many saying they don’t “need” mental health care, regardless of their situation. In the Commonwealth Fund’s 2024 International Health Policy (IHP) survey of older adults, mental health needs are assessed explicitly using the term “mental health,” as whether they have been diagnosed with a mental health condition or have accessed counseling, as well as implicitly, as if they have experienced emotional distress or loneliness. This study looks at how mental health needs are asked about in IHP surveys and how respondents across countries surveyed answer questions relating to mental health, to identify recommendations for assessing mental health needs through explicit and implicit questions in a cross-culturally age-sensitive way.
