Dr. Mehmet Oz joined Reps. Vince Fong and David Valadao for a roundtable with Central Valley health care providers to discuss the Trump administration's $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program. Oz is head of Medicare for the Trump administration. Photo via Fong and Valadao's offices.

Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity surgeon who rose to fame on Oprah Winfrey’s show before hosting his own daytime program for 13 years, visited Bakersfield over the weekend in his new role as head of the nation’s health care programs.

Now administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Oz joined Reps. Vince Fong and David Valadao for a roundtable with Central Valley health care providers at the Kern Medical hospital campus to discuss the Trump administration’s $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program — a five-year initiative aimed at strengthening rural hospitals and expanding access to care.

The program, created under President Trump’s Working Families Tax Cut legislation, will run through September 2031. CMS announced approved state awardees in late December and recently established a dedicated Office of Rural Health Transformation to oversee implementation.

“The Trump administration is investing $50 billion to transform rural health care across the country, including in California’s Central Valley,” Oz said. “Investing that money effectively means working closely with lawmakers and local stakeholders.”

The roundtable focused on how upcoming CMS regulations and the new program will affect local hospitals and patients in the Central Valley.

“Ensuring access to quality rural health care is essential, and his visit underscored the federal government’s commitment to regions like ours,” Fong said in a statement.

Oz, a Turkish-American heart surgeon, gained prominence in the mid-2000s on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” before hosting “The Dr. Oz Show” from 2009 to 2022. He has faced controversy, including 2014 Senate committee testimony in which he was questioned about weight-loss products he promoted on his show.

Kern Medical CEO Scott Thygerson said the conversations provide an opportunity to drive continued engagement with federal and state partners on challenges facing hospitals that serve rural communities.

Representatives from Kern Medical, Kern Family Healthcare, Kaweah Health Medical Center and other organizations attended.