New trends in rheumatological team care were the topics of an international workshop in Sweden in September 2003. Team care has long been an important part of rheumatological care, but its scientific base is weak. Therefore, a more focused development of high quality research, a common future research agenda, and new strategies for evaluation and implementation of team care are necessary. The CARE conferences (the first in Holland in 2002 and the third to take place in Canada in 2005) are important for these purposes and the results of CARE II at Spenshult Hospital, Sweden, can be found on the Annals website.