Oregon health and human services IT leaders outline mainframe modernization, budgets and AI inventory to legislative committee

The Joint Legislative Committee on Information Management and Technology heard an informational briefing Feb. 28 on the Office of Information Services (OIS), the shared IT organization supporting the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) and the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS). Debbie Estabrook, chief information officer for OIS, and Chris Kautz, deputy director for administration at OHA, told the committee the office is managing a large modernization program that includes moving legacy mainframe applications to cloud-based systems.

OIS leaders said the work matters because their systems support delivery of food, medical and cash assistance for roughly 1,700,000 clients across Oregon. "We maintain IT systems supporting up to 1,700,000 clients," said Debbie Estabrook, chief information officer, Office of Information Services. Chris Kautz, deputy director for…