But Congress saw that health IT was not only transformational
for health care, it was also a significant new area for jobs
and economic growth, and we invested
in this new community college program
to rapidly build up this new cadre
of health IT professionals.
NoVa and the other partner colleges
were savvy enough to get in on the ground floor.
The rest is history.
And you're making history.
The community college program is just part
of an even broader workforce development effort
that's supported by ONC.
We're supporting
a university-based training program.
There's going to be 1,500 graduates who will receive
Certificates of Advanced Study in Health IT.
We're supporting the development of the curriculum.
You all were the first to take advantage of that curriculum.
That curriculum could be adopted
by institutions of higher education
that currently don't have a health IT program.
It could be adapted by those who have existing programs.
And we're also supporting a competency exam
right here at NoVa for health IT proficiency
for those health care professionals,
and you will be part of the first to test that.
And give Brian your feedback.
[ Laughter ]
It's not often where the test takers
get to give the test maker some feedback.
[ Laughter ]
