Public hearing records and committee reports compiled during 1975 and 1976 by the House Subcommittee on Health and the Environment and Senate Subcommittee on Health provide a wealth of information and analysis on major issues in the training and distribution of health professionals. This book summarizes the material in those documents to provide wider exposure to the public deliberations that preceded passage of the Health Professions Educational Assistance Act of 1976. It consists of five chapters that correspond to the five major issue areas considered by Congress: 1) the adequacy of physician supply, including the role of foreign medical graduates and the impact of mid-level health professionals; 2) continuing federal support for medical education; 3) the maldistribution of physicians among specialties; 4) the geographic maldistribution of physicians; and 5) licensure standards and procedures. Each chapter presents a series of excerpts which represent the range of information, research findings, conclusions, and recommendations presented to the committees. Similar statements were repeated only when the authors felt they contributed to a more complete understanding of the factors confronting the committees in their deliberations. (Author/JG)