About 25 percent of Americans live in rural areas, yet only 10 percent of physicians choose to practice there. Why? And what can be done about it?

Dr. Eron Manusov answers these questions in his book The Rural Health Care Dilemma: A Physician’s View. He cites isolation from colleagues, lack of technology and skewed expectations of how a physician practices in a rural community as the reasons doctors stay away from rural settings. Yet in citing these reasons, he turns the minuses into pluses, pointing the way toward improved healthcare for millions of Americans.

He spotlights both physician and patient needs in terms of infrastructure, mainstream technologies and medical expertise. And he lays out what it would take to improve the education, recruitment and retention of rural physicians, who will discover the joys of practicing medicine in isolated communities.

About the Author

Dr. Eron G. Manusov is a family physician, writer, musician and artist who spent 25 years in rural and military medicine. His journeys have taken him around the world, and he works tirelessly to educate compassionate and skilled physicians. He is the medical director of a corporation providing healthcare to indigent patients and to those who require care for HIV and substance abuse. He lives with his wife and children in rural North Carolina.