Growth and distribution of selected allied health professional groups, United States, 1970-1980

The growth and geographical distribution of selected allied health professional groups were compared with medicine, dentistry, and nursing for the periods 1970 to 1980 using data from the US census (1970 to 1980) and AMA Physician Masterfile. GINI indexes of health professionals concentration were computed as global measures to evaluate changes in the pattern of locational choice. All allied health professional groups reflected large percentage increases ranging from 25% to 432% in supply of practitioners from 1970 to 1980, with a median percentage increase of 71.9%, and compared well with medicine and dentistry. These allied health supply increases were generally related to better distributional outcomes among the general population and physicians, although several allied health groups became less evenly distributed during this decade. These gains were realized during a decade when less federal support was available for the allied health professions compared with medicine, dentistry, and nursing.