Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) has been recognized as an important outcome, some contend the most important outcome for children's health care interventions. The PedsQL Measurement Model was designed as a modular approach to measuring pediatric health-related quality of life, developed to integrate the relative merits of generic and disease-specific approaches. We suggest that part of the process of improving the quality of health care includes measuring HRQOL outcomes from the perspective of children and their parents on a routine basis, consistent with a consumer-based health care system approach.