A study examined the extent of the deficit of data concerning allied health fields supply and requirements to determine the kinds of data and studies needed to improve the data base for health and allied health education. At present, data deficits exist in the areas of allied health occupations labor supply and requirements, future health needs, and educational needs. Current manpower forecasting models, which vary in scope, methodology, and assumptions, tend to concentrate on single occupations, usually ignoring other health professionals who can and may be providing the same services. Deficiencies and shortcomings of allied health manpower information have discouraged any attempt to treat health care delivery as a system. This hampers development of efficient and productive data collection procedures. Development of guidelines for well-coordinated research and data collection is essential in the areas of supply and requirements, distribution, utilization, and productivity. Enumerative, descriptive, and analytic information is needed in all four needs areas to plan and insure optimal utilization of resources. (A postscript contains suggestions for making decisions without ideal data.) (MN)