SHOTLIST: WASHINGTON DC, US (SEPT. 16, 2025) (ANADOLU - ACCESS ALL) 1. (SOUNDBITE) (English) TURKISH-AMERICAN CARDIAC SURGEON DR. MEHMET OZ, SAYING: "The Rural Health Transformation Fund is basically a space shot that will allow us to completely re-envision how rural health care is offered in this country. And to put it in perspective. About 7% of Medicaid dollars go to rural health care. That's about $19 billion a year. This fund is 10 billion a year for five years. So a 50% increase in the amount of money that Medicaid will pay in the rural health care, because this Congress and this president wisely figured out a way to put money into the system and stimulate and catalyze transformation of the way we offer care in rural America." "...It's a crisis. Rural America has a three year shorter life expectancy than urban America, 20% higher incidence of chronic diseases that lead to cancer, heart disease, hypertension, obesity, 50%, increase in suicide rates, and maternal mortality mean significant and dramatic increases in risk factors. Based on the ZIP code that you live in, and your dignity should not be tied to your ZIP code, nor your mortality rate, nor your life expectancy. But that's what we're facing. Part of the problem is that rural health care financially, is in dire straits, with 40% of the hospitals reporting financial crises. And, but most of them reporting a census that's half that of urban hospitals. So Congress wisely decided the best way to do this was to take a large sum of money, $50 billion over the course of five years, divided in half. Half is distributed equally to all 50 states, the other half based on applications which went out yesterday that need to be returned by November 5th, will be a competition, a race to see which states have the most innovative ideas, the cleverest ways of improving health care of right sizing their health care system, of doing better, workforce, enlargement and training, letting people function at the height of their credentialing, using innovative approaches like hub and spoke models with big urban hospitals, maybe helping smaller rural hospitals stay afloat, provide better quality care." "Many centers have shared with me that they know of hospitals in their state that are originally 100 bed hospitals that shrunk to ten bed hospitals, but have a census of one where people in the town are driving past that hospital. We needed to improve the quality of the hospitals, the right size of systems in other ways. We have 85,000 pharmacies, 55,000 hospitals, by the way, but we have so many more pharmacies. There are many of them in rural America. They need to be able to function at a higher level. All this is out there for states to respond. Congress thoughtfully put the money, at CMS to give to the governors, which is what we're going to do by the end of this year. The governors will then have each of them the next year to do the best they can with what the applied for, and use that money wisely. Every year will be reassessed. And money that's not spent correctly will be clawed back and distributed to other states that are doing a better job. And we hope that will stimulate governors to speak to each other. States to collaborate deal with challenges that historically have been allowed to continue and in that way improve the quality of care in rural health care. So five years from now, it's financially viable. And again, remind you, the most expensive care is bad care because you're getting bad care. You're paying for someone to do the wrong thing. Then you're paying someone to fix the wrong thing, that you pay for the complications. And we believe this fund will help provide high quality care for Americans living in rural parts of the country, so that it will also be more financially affordable." 2. JOURNALIST ASKING QUESTION TO DR. MEHMET OZ 3. (SOUNDBITE) (English) TURKISH-AMERICAN CARDIAC SURGEON DR. MEHMET OZ, SAYING: "Dozens I but I this is not. Oh, not in this term. This term. This is a 24 over seven job. I had travelled to probably 3 or 4 rural hospitals, but I've not seen the numbers of hospitals in this term as I've seen in my career, but is at heart surgeon, but also someone who was honored to be invited to a lot of hospitals, both to give talks but also participate in some of their grand rounds.I see my share of hospitals and the smaller institutions are the ones that I'm worried about. Well, one thing you can be sure of is parents love their kids more than anybody else loves their kids. And so I think part of the challenge. Vaccinations to make sure that we understand what's out there, what the opportunities are, but continue to kick the tires and double check like a loving parent does. I don't think we should mandate what parents do with their kids, but we should make those vaccines available. That's what I intend to do with CMS. So we are giving vaccines, obviously, to all seniors without any restrictions at all. And we will pay for children who deserve vaccinations as well. Continually. And that has not changed whatsoever."WASHINGTON DC, US - SEPT. 16: Turkish-American cardiac surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, presented a new federal plan in Washington on Tuesday, Sept. 16, aimed at strengthening health services across the US. Oz said the initiative will channel federal support into health systems across the country, focusing on innovation and cooperation between large urban hospitals and smaller institutions. “This plan will provide $10 billion annually over the next five years, which represents about a 50% increase in Medicaid’s support for health services in underserved areas,” he said. He added that many hospitals are reporting financial difficulties and reduced capacity, stressing that the new program is designed to improve sustainability and deliver better outcomes nationwide. The announcement comes as rural America faces persistent health challenges, with shorter life expectancy and higher rates of chronic disease compared to urban areas. More than 40% of rural hospitals are reporting financial crises. Oz, a Turkish-American surgeon appointed as CMS chief earlier this year, said the plan is intended to stabilize services and improve long-term access. Reporting by Nathan Posner / Writing by Mehmet Taha Mazi