The need for medical record administrators in New Jersey, and specifically in hospitals, was studied using a methodology that projects requirements and accounts for the utilization of Registered Record Administrators (RRAs) in alternative health care settings by 1990. Furthermore, employment opportunities in such nontraditional settings as insurance and pharmaceutical companies were explored. Surveys of hospitals were conducted to determine staffing patterns and personnel needs of the medical records departments. Positions were rated both in terms of the job title and professional certification of each individual employed. A survey, distributed to 100 New Jersey Medical Record Association (NJMRA) members at their January 1981 state meeting, collected data on present employment position and setting, educational training, and interest in further education. Response rates ranged from 62 percent for a mail survey to 94 percent for the survey of NJMRA members. The survey results were supplemented by a series of telephone conversations with state and national experts in the field. A shortage of 250 RRAs by 1990 was estimated. The continuing inability of hospitals, the principal employers of such personnel, to attract and retain RRA is presumably due to the increasing complexity of medical record management and to the lack of baccalaureate programs in New Jersey. It is recommended that two baccalaureate programs in medical record administration be established in the state, one in the north and one in the central or southern region. Evening and weekend courses are also recommended for continuing professional education. Survey forms are appended. (SW)