This paper suggests that since continuing professional educators must address the ever present gap between new knowledge and practitioner competence, accurate identification and prioritization of practitioners' educational needs must be maintained on a continuous basis. Describing an adult education agency as an open system whose output depends on its input, the paper presents an educational needs assessment model employed by the Office of Continuing Medical Education, University of Michigan Medical Center. In addition, the paper defines educational needs based on Bradshaw's concept of felt, expressed, comparative, and normative sources and Knox's need appraisal model; describes data collection techniques for defined need areas; describes development of a coding system and transformation of data into packaged usable form; outlines applicability of the educational needs assessment model to other continuing professional education programs; and discusses limitations of the model. Charts and diagrams are included in the body of the paper and a bibliography appears at the end. (Author/LMS)