exchange capabilities. these communities will demonstrate the vision of a future where hospitals, clinicians, and patients are meaningful users of health it, and together the community achieves measurable improvements in health care quality, safety, efficiency, and population health. according to a march 2013 evaluation, "the beacon communities have implemented a wide variety of interventions, including innovations in care delivery, provider feedback and performance measurement initiatives, health it development projects, and tools to improve the process of care for providers and consumers. each beacon community has tailored its activities to reflect its unique resources, goals, and populations, resulting in a broad range of activities. in many cases, the communities have chosen to focus all or some of their efforts on specific disease categories." while beacon programs are no longer technically funded by onc, many of these former grantees have no-cost extensions which allows them to spend whatever is left in their respective grants, as well as find ways to continue their work. onc continues to partner with these former grantees. health it workforce training programs community college consortia to educate health information technology professionals program: a grant program that seeks to rapidly create health it education and training programs at community colleges or expand existing programs. community colleges funded under this initiative will establish intensive, non-degree training programs that can be completed in six months or less. this is one component of the health it workforce program. program of assistance for university-based training: a grant program to rapidly increase the availability of individuals qualified to serve in specific health information technology professional roles requiring university-level training. this is one component of the health it workforce program. *combined results of community college and university-based training: in total the two programs trained 21,437 students from all 50 states, the district of columbia, puerto rico, and the u.s. virgin islands at 91 academic institutions. curriculum development centers program: a grant program to provide $10 million in grants to institutions of higher education (or consortia thereof) to support health information technology (health it) curriculum development. this is one component of the health it workforce program. competency examination for individuals completing non-degree training program: a grant program to provide $6 million in grants to an institution of higher education (or consortia thereof) to support the development and initial administration of a set of health it competency examinations. this is one component of the health it workforce program. advisory committees in january 2018, the health information technology advisory committee (hitac) was established as required under the 21st century cures act. health information technology advisory committee (hitac) | healthit.gov term: 2021-current co-chair: aaron miri co-chair: denise webb term: 2018-2020 co-chair: robert wah co-chair: carolyn peterson onc also created two federal advisory committees (facas), the health it policy committee, which the national coordinator chairs, and the health it standards committee. both of these committees were disbanded in 2018 due to new legal requirements within the 21st century cures act. health it policy committee the health it policy committee recommends a policy framework for the development and adoption of a nationwide health information technology infrastructure that permits the electronic exchange and use of health information. vice-chair of this committee is paul tang, md, ms, who is vice president, chief innovation and technology officer at palo alto medical foundation. health it standards committee the health it standards committee recommends to the national coordinator standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria. the standards committee also harmonizes, pilot tests, and ensures consistency with the social security act. vice-chair of this committee is john halamka, md, ms, who is chief information officer of beth israel deaconess medical center, professor at harvard medical school, and a practicing emergency physician.