Bresnahan Welcomes Administrator Oz to Scranton for Healthcare Roundtable
SCRANTON, PA: Today, U.S. Representative Rob Bresnahan, Jr. (PA-08) welcomed Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz to Scranton for a healthcare roundtable with local stakeholders and officials. Prior to the roundtable, Rep. Bresnahan and Administrator Oz visited The Wright Center in Scranton to tour the facility and meet with staff and leadership.
“Today’s discussion with Administrator Oz and our local healthcare community was extremely productive,” said Rep. Bresnahan. “It was a fantastic opportunity to sit down with local leaders to discuss how we can best implement the Rural Health Transformation Fund and the importance of high-quality healthcare. I want to thank Administrator Oz for coming to Scranton to hear firsthand from our community. We’re committed to delivering real, practical solutions that improve access to care, lower costs, and ensure every community gets the support it needs.”
“The decisions CMS makes in Washington and Baltimore affect Americans in every one of the country’s nearly 20,000 cities and towns — urban, rural, and everything in between,” said CMS administrator Mehmet Oz. “That’s why it’s so important for us to get out of the Beltway and hear directly from people in those communities. I’m grateful to Congressman Bresnahan for bringing together local Northeastern Pennsylvania experts and stakeholders to work toward real, bipartisan solutions that can lower costs, increase access, and improve quality of care.”
During the roundtable, Rep. Bresnahan and Administrator Oz spoke with participants about Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) reform, medical modernization, insurance coverage, value-based care, and the Rural Health Transformation Fund. Following the roundtable, Rep. Bresnahan and Administrator Oz spoke with members of the press, along with Jim Pettinato, CEO of Wayne Memorial Hospital, Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, CEO of The Wright Center, Matt Osterberg and Ron Schmalzle, Pike County Commissioners, and Bob Durkin, President of Scranton Chamber of Commerce.
More photos from the visit to the Wright Center, roundtable, and press conference can be found here.
“We are sincerely grateful to Dr. Oz, Congressman Bresnahan, and their staffs for visiting The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education and for recognizing the essential role community health centers, community-based primary care, and physician and health care workforce development play in the health and vitality of our region and our nation,” said Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, president and CEO of The Wright Center. “As a Federally Qualified Health Center Look-Alike and nationally recognized Patient-Centered Medical Home, The Wright Center ensures accessible, whole-person-focused, team-based, and cost-effective care for about 38,300 individuals each year across Northeast Pennsylvania.
“Our scalable Graduate Medical Education Safety-Net Consortium (GME SNC) model intentionally integrates health care delivery, interprofessional workforce development, innovation, and community voice to provide high-quality, affordable, and compassionate primary and preventive whole-person health services, especially in rural and underserved communities, while training 430 residents, fellows, and interprofessional learners annually, with strong retention in those communities.
“At a time when hospital mergers and closures, accelerating health care workforce shortages, and fragile rural health care infrastructures threaten timely access to care, our integrated primary care and GME-SNC model serves as both a stabilizing anchor for local health systems and a lifeline for patients and families. It is a profound privilege and honor to share our mission-driven work and the voices of our patients and learners with our distinguished guests.”
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