WICHE Publications : Accountability

  • WICHE 2013 Workplan

    WICHE and its 15 member states work to improve access to higher education and ensure student success. Our student exchange programs, regional initiatives, and research and policy work allow us to assist constituents throughout the West and beyond. In fiscal 2013 WICHE's four units - Programs and Services, Policy Analysis and Research, Mental Health Program, and WCET - will strive to assist the West's institutions and students, focusing on five areas: finance; access and success; workforce and society; technology and innovation; and accountability. In the 2013 Workplan, we describe existing activities, as well as initiatives that are new directions or on the horizon, by unit. Along with a brief narrative of each project, we include its focus area/s; priority in terms of WICHE's mission; funding source and amount; staffing level; timeline; organizational partners; and state institutional partners.

    2012 ~ 29pp. ~ PDF ~ 515 kb~ DOWNLOAD

  • Crisis/Opportunity — WICHE 2011 Annual Report
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    In the face of dwindling state support to adequately fund higher education, we know we still need to produce more postsecondary graduates; and because we need to reach deeper into the low-income and minority communities to do so, controlling costs and keeping tuition affordable is critical. Along with challenging economic circumstances (and in some cases because of them), four issues have come to the forefront in the West, in addition to the key issue of productivity: performance funding; governance changes; accountability; and innovation. It is clear that the demands on our higher education systems and our institutions will continue to grow and that state funding levels will not keep pace. Let's hope the last year, challenging though it was for many states, yields more such innovations in the future.

    2011 ~ PDF ~ 949 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Crisis/Opportunity : WICHE 2011 Workplan
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    Even while funding to our colleges and universities has declined, a college degree has retained its value. As a nation, and as individuals, we can’t afford to be poorly educated today. As President Obama said in his state of the union address, “In the 21st century, the best anti-poverty program around is a world-class education.” The opportunity, then, for the West is one that generations of Americans are familiar with: to do more with less. Dealing with scarcity – whether of institutions or programs or dollars – has been at the heart of WICHE’s mission since the beginning.

    2010 ~ 20pp. ~ PDF ~ 563 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Overview of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s Broadband Provisions

    Powerpoint presentation by Louis Fox, Vice President of WICHE Technology and Innovation.

    2009 ~ 12pp. ~ PDF ~ 845 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Are Your Online Students Really the Ones Registered for the Course? A WCET Briefing Paper

    This is a WCET Briefing Paper on the pending federal legislation concerning the authentication of distance education students. The paper provides an overview of the proposed legislation and describes some strategies to promote academic integrity in distance education (e.g. prevention approaches, compliance approaches). It provides a general overview of ways to promote academic integrity.

    2008 ~ 3pp. ~ PDF ~ 30 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Getting What You Pay For Policy Briefs
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    Specifically designed to reach out to the nation’s state legislators, Getting What You Pay For: Understanding Appropriations, Tuition, and Financial Aid, continues the effort to expand access and success for all students through eight concise policy briefs designed to identify best practices and ensure that every available state dollar works for students, not against them. Each brief is available as a PDF download from the Web site.

    2008 ~ Web page ~ LINK

  • Higher Education : The Engine of Economic Opportunity - WICHE Workplan 2009
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    In fiscal 2009 WICHE and its four units - Public Policy and Research, Programs and Services, WCET, and Mental Health - will work to build a better education engine via our efforts in our five areas: finance, access and success, workforce and social issues, technology and innovoation, and accountability.

    2008 ~ 19pp. ~ PDF ~ 256 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Identifying Stakeholders to Pay for Enhanced Depression Treatment in Rural Populations
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    Working Paper

    From the WICHE Center for Rural Mental Health Research, this study investigates whether two of the multiple stakeholder groups (health plans and employer purchasers) in two delivery systems (rural and urban) economically benefit from improved depression treatment by testing whether depression care management results in: (1) a greater reduction of utilization costs in insured rural patients than their urban counterparts (health plan stakeholders), and (2) a greater reduction in work costs in employed urban patients than their rural counterparts (employer purchaser stakeholders).

    2008 ~ 21pp. ~ PDF ~ 84 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Identifying At-risk Rural Areas for Targeting Enhanced Schizophrenia Treatment
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    Policy Brief

    From the WICHE Center for Rural Mental Health Research, this policy brief summarizes nationally representative data on community-level risk factors associated with schizophrenia hospitalizations. It examines how socio-economic factors and the makeup of local health care systems affect the rate of schizophrenia hospitalizations. It identifies geographic areas with elevated rates. It also presents a discussion about the findings. It should be of interest to government and private health plan administrators, as well as those responsible for designing mental health delivery systems – anyone interested in creating outpatient treatment programs that may prevent costly hospitalizations.

    2007 ~ 2pp. ~ PDF ~ 88 KB~ DOWNLOAD

  • Preventing Hospitalization in Depressed Rural Patients

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    Policy Brief

    From the WICHE Center for Rural Mental Health Research, this study examines whether depressed rural primary care patients are more likely than urban patients to be hospitalized; it investigates whether differences in hospitalization rates can be explained by differences in the utilization of specialty outpatient care; and it looks at whether rural patients face more “insurance barriers” to outpatient care. This study should be of interest to policy makers and administrators seeking to develop better delivery systems for rural mental health services. It should also be of interest to insurers, self-insured employers and other payers seeking the most effective use of health care expenditures.

    2007 ~ 2pp. ~ PDF ~ 100 KB~ DOWNLOAD

    • ADDITIONAL DETAILS, LINKS, AND DOWNLOADS +
      Executive summary

      1p ~ PDF ~ 9 KB ~ DOWNLOAD

  • Community Level Risk Factors for Depression Hospitalizations
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    Working Paper

    From the WICHE Center for Rural Mental Health Research, this study is the first to identify community-level risk factors for depression hospitalizations in urban and rural counties. It also identifies rural and urban areas with elevated hospitalization rates, which should be of interest to government officials, health plans and self-insured employers/payers seeking to control costs by preventing unnecessary hospitalizations.

    2005 ~ 21pp. ~ PDF ~ 334 KB~ DOWNLOAD

    • ADDITIONAL DETAILS, LINKS, AND DOWNLOADS +
      Policy Brief

      91 KB ~ DOWNLOAD

      Executive Summary

      9 KB ~ DOWNLOAD

  • Differential Effectiveness of Enhanced Depression Treatment for Rural and Urban Primary Care Patients
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    Working Paper

    From the WICHE Center for Rural Mental Health Research, this study explores whether enhanced depression care has comparable impact on clinical outcomes over two years for patients treated in rural and urban primary care practices and whether differences are mediated by receiving evidence-based care (pharmacotherapy and specialty care counseling).

    2005 ~ 14pp. ~ PDF ~ 84 KB~ DOWNLOAD

    • ADDITIONAL DETAILS, LINKS, AND DOWNLOADS +
      Executive Summary

      1p. ~ PDF ~ 9 KB ~ DOWNLOAD