Although coordination among programs funded by the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) is occurring, it can be improved by removing barriers and specifying what is to be coordinated and how. HEW's National Coordination Study telephoned 187 agency personnel at federal and local levels in 54 HEW programs and talked in-person to 50 Seattle-area local agencies. The conversations covered the intent of statutes or regulations mandating coordination, the extent of and barriers to present coordination, and recommendations or additional needs for coordination. Among the study's conclusions were that (1) much coordination already occurs at the local level mainly to improve services; (2) federal coordination mandates have no effect, positive or negative, on actual coordination activities because they do not specify the functions or agencies to be coordinated; and (3) barriers to coordination include agency competition over "turf," lack of organizational staff or resources, and federal policy rigidity or mismatching in funding, eligibility, timing, and administration. To ameliorate these problems HEW should specify in its coordination mandates the functions, agencies, and activities to be coordinated; identify a coordination contact point in each regional office; offer special coordination incentive funding; and reform policies that are rigid or promote mismatched activities. (RW)