SCRANTON — In his second visit to the city since December, celebrity physician turned Trump administration official Dr. Mehmet Oz toured Thursday a Scranton hospital recently saved from closure by an 11th-hour ownership change.
Oz, the administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, joined U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan, R-8, Dallas Twp., for a tour of Regional Hospital of Scranton and a subsequent roundtable and press conference at its nearby Moses Taylor Hospital campus. Both Commonwealth Health facilities would have closed were they not acquired earlier this month by the nonprofit Tenor Health Foundation in a broader transaction that also included Commonwealth’s Wilkes-Barre General Hospital and other assets.
Thursday’s visit comes after Oz and Bresnahan toured in December the Wright Center for Community Health in Scranton and participated in a roundtable discussion at Geisinger Community Medical Center in the city’s Hill Section. It also follows testimony Dr. Patrick Conaboy, the chief medical officer for Regional and Moses Taylor, provided earlier this month to a panel of Democratic state lawmakers highlighting the pronounced workforce and other challenges the hospitals still face.
Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Dr. Mehmet Oz speaks during a press conference at Moses Taylor Hospital in Scranton Thursday, February 26, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
On the workforce front, Conaboy said recruiting physicians, nurses and other workers remains the biggest challenge, a problem exacerbated by perceived uncertainty about the hospitals’ long-term futures. He also testified to financial and other difficulties the hospitals face, such as insufficient reimbursements for care and growing numbers of uninsured individuals seeking it at Regional’s emergency department. Cuts and policy changes to Medicaid at the federal level and resulting coverage losses are likely to compound those difficulties.
Asked about the Medicaid changes included in President Donald Trump’s signature “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” legislation Bresnahan supported, Oz claimed the Trump administration is “investing another $200 billion more into Medicaid.”
“What we changed was a run on the bank,” he said. “There was a massive increase in Medicaid spending, and much of it used to pay other expenses that states should have to deal with on their own so that the federal government and federal taxpayers can use their money for things that the federal government should pay for.”
Congressional Budget Office estimates released in July showed provisions of the OBBBA would reduce federal Medicaid spending by more than $900 billion over a decade, according to the nonprofit health policy research, polling and news organization KFF.
Oz also referenced the Rural Health Transformation Fund created by the OBBBA, a $50 billion initiative to bolster rural health care that will deliver funding directly to states over a five-year period. That initiative, again according to KFF, “could offset a little over a third (37%) of the estimated cuts to federal Medicaid spending in rural areas.”
While it’s not yet clear how any of Pennsylvania’s share of the funding might ultimately support Regional or Moses Taylor, Pennsylvania’s Rural Health Transformation Plan initiatives include a focus on technology and infrastructure and workforce development, among other areas. The need for major infrastructure investments at Regional and Moses Taylor is something local officials, workers and other stakeholders frequently stressed during the yearslong process of finding a new owner.
U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan and Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Dr. Mehmet Oz answer questions during a press conference at Moses Taylor Hospital in Scranton Thursday, February 26, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
“I love the facility that we toured, it’s spectacular, but I also want to highlight we have a lot to do,” Oz said Thursday. “Now thankfully Pennsylvania wrote a wonderful application for the Rural Health Transformation Fund. … And that money could be used here wisely. Pennsylvania’s application earned $193 million a year for each of the next five years. The money is already in Harrisburg. It left Washington. We want to make sure it gets out of Harrisburg into the areas of this beautiful state that require it.”
Tenor Health Foundation CEO Radha Savitala, who joined Oz, Bresnahan and Conaboy at Thursday’s press conference, said the organization is working with hospital administrators to create a capital plan for the Scranton facilities.
“We’ve got a large footprint, so there’s a lot that we need to do and we’re working with administration to be able to come up with that capital plan and then take it back to these wonderful gentlemen and work through that,” she said. “And I think the best way that we can do that, too, is increase our services and be more responsible with how we get reimbursed so that we can build that pool of money to invest back into the hospitals.”
Investing in the hospital personnel is also important, Bresnahan added.
“It’s a lot more than just perhaps the infrastructure on a floor, because at the end of the day it’s the people that make this place incredible,” he said.