The General Accounting Office (GAO) reviewed and evaluated debt collection activities of five programs of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) that provide financial assistance to health professions students and medical facilities. The principal findings include: (1) HRSA changes have improved delinquency rates; however, large dollar amounts in seriously delinquent loans are still being carried; (2) HRSA has not established time frames for schools to determine the collectibility of loans and request write-off approval from HRSA; (3) HRSA's collection efforts were unnecessarily hampered by lack of a comprehensive debt management system, staffing shortages, and failure to follow established procedures; (4) the GAO Inspector General's recommendation of offsetting federal Medicare reimbursements to recover delinquent debts from physicians should be pilot-tested and, if it proves successful, should be implemented as a routine collection step. Comments from the Department of Health and Human Services are appended. A table of data on the average delinquency rates, by percentage, for health professions and nursing student loans from June 30, 1982 to June 30, 1986 is also provided. (KM)