Factors that distinguish the health disciplines from the traditional and career-oriented disciplines, trends that will affect the allied health disciplines, and considerations for the development of new allied health education programs are considered. Topics of consideration include: start-up and continuation costs, advantages and disadvantages of outside funding, professional accreditation, certification, state licensure, faculty, teaching loads and clinical programs, administrative placement of allied health programs, facilities and equipment, clinical affiliations, planning, and projecting enrollment and recruitment. Allied health programs are offered at associate degree, baccalaureate, and master's levels. It is noted that clinical education is the unique characteristic of the health disciplines, and that allied health educational programs are expensive to initiate and to maintain. In the future the emphasis in allied health education will be increasingly on quality rather than quantity. (SW)