The National Health Planning and Resources Deveplopment Act of 1974 (PL 93-641) grants review authority to Health Systems Agencies (HSAs) which seek to improve the quality of health care and insure the rational expenditure of financial resources. Their review process necessitates the development of adequate mental health standards and criteria and better communication between community mental health centers (CMHCs) and HSAs. The Arthur D. Little (ADL) study which sought to determine the feasibility of developing guidelines, criteria, and standards for PL 93-641, identifies few of the mental health standards and review criteria developed by HSAs. Because CMHCs face data demands from multiple sources, HSAs should coordinate their data needs with other major mental health planning and review processes. The federal site visit process, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals survey, and state licensing and review boards also request data from CMHCs. HSAs could use the National Standards for their standards and criteria, an approach which would reduce overlapping and conflicting CMHC assessment and monitoring procedures. (Author/MLT)