Since becoming head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which covers health care services for about 140 million Americans, Dr. Mehmet Oz has brought the prevention-focused mindset that made his television show popular to the federal health program. Oz tells TIME he hopes to “push primary care into a leadership position” to catch more maladies before patients end up in the emergency room. At the same time, he’s modernizing the health care system by introducing more accessible and user-friendly health records that would give patients more control over their health information. He’s also taking aim at what he says is waste and fraud in the department, with a controversial goal of reducing federal Medicaid funding by roughly $1 trillion over the next decade and enforcing stricter employment verification requirements. Other government agencies predict that millions will be left with less or no coverage in coming years. Oz says the cuts are necessary to ensure coverage “for people who are most vulnerable.”
