Outcomes research and community health information systems.

The developments in outcomes research and community health information systems are pursuing essentially parallel courses in this country, and yet integrating the lessons from each other could yield more informed health policy decisions. This article provides the linkage between these two developing fields, discusses indicators of community health, describes several approximations to an outcomes-based community health information system in this country, and specifies a model (POPULIS) of such a system from Canada. Although POPULIS can serve as a prototype for health policy decision making, the outcomes-based community health information system, which can be constructed in this country, is constrained by the pluralistic system of health care we have and the lack of any centralized planning about health.