Administrative data sets and the development of electronic clinical information systems provide enormous potential for undertaking research into the factors associated with clinical outcomes and also the quality of care provided to patients. With appropriate privacy principles addressed, further record linkage of clinical information across various data sets expands this potential even further. This presentation will focus on the strengths and weaknesses of utilising routinely collected administrative data and data collected in clinical quality registries for assessing quality of care and improving clinical outcomes in the health care system.