Oregon and Illinois are two states that will launch their initial health information exchange core services in early 2012. Both states will shortly publish contractor proposals to help them develop the systems and databases they will need to support their health information exchanges. For Oregon, a vendor will set up a provider directory at the individual and entity level, which will also include a certificate authority, and a statewide health information service provider to offer Direct Project addresses to any state provider or consumer for free, said Carol Robinson, state coordinator for health IT, Oregon Health Authority. Oregon will onramp its exchange participants with messaging services using Direct protocols, which are secure email designed for simple exchanges between providers or between a provider and a patient. In Illinois, state officials anticipate putting its initial services in production in April 2012. These core HIE services will include a master patient index, which will be comprised of multiple repositories in the state starting with the Medicaid database, said Ivan Handler, CTO of the Illinois Office of Health IT.
