This issue of the Rheumatic Disease Clinics of North America brings the rheumatologist up to date on the latest practices in quantitative assessment of common musculoskeletal conditions. Topics covered include quantitative measures of rheumatic diseases for clinical research versus standard clinical care; monitoring outcomes of arthritis and longitudinal data collection in routine care using a patient questionnaire; electronic and computer-generated patient questionnaires; integrating patient questionnaire data into electronic medical records; the SDI and CDAI; using SPERA for efficient capture of essential data from patients and health professionals; MDHAQ and RAPID scores; a proposed continuous quality improvement approach to assessment and management of patients with rheumatoid arthritis; and DAS28.