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We report the baseline usability of a novel web-based application, the Population Health Record (PopHR), designed to facilitate the effective use of population health information by public health professionals and to support evidence-based decision-making. The usability test was conducted with ten potential users who each completed eight tasks using the PopHR system. Participant responses were recorded, including timestamps for each data entry. Overall, the task completion rate was 96% while the success rate was 88%. The average time-on-task was 3.11 minutes, with more time spent on tasks requiring a user to stratify data along multiple dimensions, such as age, sex, or geographical region. Usability scores indicated that the current version of PopHR has good usability. Potential improvements identified included adding supporting information, offering different visualizations, and enhancing system stability. These findings are examples of addressable usability problems encountered in developing a population health record system.

Within population health information systems, indicators are commonly presented as independent, cross-sectional measures, neglecting the multivariate, longitudinal nature of disease progression, health care use, and profiles of performance. We use administrative claims data of Montreal, Canada to identify patterns across indicators and over time in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients. We first cluster regions based on four health service indicators. Our second approach discovers individual-level trajectories based on a hidden Markov model using the same four indicators. Both approaches offer additional insights by facilitating the discovery and interpretation of indicators, such as a dual interpretation of low use of general practitioner services. These approaches to the analysis and visualization of health indicators can provide a foundation for information displays that will help decision makers identify areas of concern, predict future disease burden, and implement appropriate policies.