WASHINGTON — Dr. Mehmet Oz promised senators on Friday to fight health care fraud and push to make Americans healthier if he becomes the next leader of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

But the former heart surgeon and TV personality avoided several opportunities to say broadly whether he would oppose cuts to Medicaid, the government-funded program for people with low incomes.

Oz, President Donald Trump’s pick to be the next CMS administrator, also said technology like artificial intelligence and telemedicine could be a key in making care more efficient and accessible.

“We have a generational opportunity to fix our health care system and help people stay healthy for longer,” he said.

The 64-year-old was a respected heart surgeon who turned into a popular TV pitchman. He hawked everything from supplements to private health insurance plans on “The Dr. Oz Show,” which ran for 13 seasons and helped him amass a fortune.

Now he has his sights on overseeing health insurance for about 150 million Americans enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid or Affordable Care Act coverage.

As CMS administrator, he could wield significant power over most health companies operating in the U.S. because he can make decisions about who and what are covered by Medicare and Medicaid.

Oz faced over two and a half hours of questioning Friday before the Republican-controlled Senate Finance Committee, which will vote later on whether to forward his nomination to the full Senate for consideration.

Leading the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services presents a “monumental opportunity” to make the country healthier, Oz told senators.

He talked about how a healthy population cuts down on expensive chronic diseases, and he offered suggestions of ways to help with that.

He noted, for instance, that most Medicare Advantage plans — privately run versions of the federally funded Medicare program — provide an allowance for food purchases. But they give no “real advice” on how to use it wisely.

“We don’t have to order people to eat healthy, we have to make it easier for people to be healthy,” adding that he considered maintaining good health a “patriotic duty.”

Republicans asked Oz about his plans for eliminating fraud from the $1 trillion programs. He talked about going after insurers that bill for diagnoses that never lead to treatment.

He also said technology like telemedicine can be used to help close gaps in care access, particularly in rural areas.

Several senators mentioned concerns about the closure of rural hospitals in their states.

He said rural hospitals could form partnerships with bigger institutions in nearby cities.

“We have to revisit how we deliver rural care in America,” he said. “We can’t depend on 100-bed hospitals that do one delivery a day to provide state-of-the-art care.”

In response to a question about whether he would support Medicaid cuts if they lead to rural hospital closures, Oz said he didn’t want those hospitals to close “unless we have a better option.”

Oz also would like to see limits on insurer care pre-approvals in Medicare Advantage. He called that practice, known as prior authorization, “a pox on the system” that hikes administrative costs.