Access to healthcare is often framed as an individual challenge, yet patterns of coverage and care reveal a deeper, systemic management problem. This accepted student research presentation examines how gaps in health insurance coverage and frequent mental distress overlap geographically, creating compounded barriers to care that disproportionately affect already marginalized communities.
Using CDC 500 Cities and PLACES model-based estimates for Minnesota, the study identifies cities and census tracts where high rates of frequent mental distress coincide with low levels of health insurance among adults ages 18 to 64. Rather than treating these conditions as isolated outcomes, the research reframes them as interrelated indicators of inequitable healthcare management and policy design. The findings demonstrate that coverage gaps cluster in urban neighborhoods shaped by structural racism, economic marginalization, and administrative complexity.
The analysis moves beyond descriptive statistics by applying tract-level comparisons and regression modeling to show a strong positive relationship between lack of insurance and frequent mental distress. As uninsurance rises, mental distress increases in a predictable and meaningful way. This relationship highlights how administrative barriers, fragmented benefits systems, and uneven resource allocation intensify behavioral health needs while simultaneously limiting access to care.
From a healthcare management perspective, the presentation argues for place-based, equity-informed interventions. Strategies such as community-based navigation, targeted benefits enrollment, and embedded mental health screening are presented as managerial responses that can reduce unmet need without requiring entirely new infrastructure. The research emphasizes that better outcomes depend not only on clinical services, but on how health systems are designed, coordinated, and governed.
Designed for scholars, practitioners, and public sector leaders, this session contributes a data-driven framework for identifying priority communities and aligning management decisions with equity goals. It challenges healthcare leaders to recognize that unequal coverage is not accidental, but the result of choices that can be redesigned.
Authors and Affiliations
Danae Goldsmith, Metropolitan State University
James Hixson, Metropolitan State University
Join us at the SAM International Business Conference to engage with this research. This in-person presentation invites discussion on how healthcare management can address coverage gaps and improve behavioral health equity through smarter, more intentional system design.
Register to attend at www.samnational.org/conference and be part of the conversation shaping more equitable healthcare systems.