Nonprofit Business Leader: Edward H. Moore

Under Edward H. Moore's leadership, Harrington Hospital has transformed from a Southbridge hospital into a healthcare system, expanding its reach in southern Worcester County.

Write a Comment

By Laura Finaldi

Throughout Edward H. Moore's 30-year career in the healthcare administration industry, he has worked in hospitals everywhere from affluent Boston suburbs to the ghettos of Washington, D.C. These varied experiences, he said, helped shape him into the effective leader he is today.

Friends and colleagues said Moore possesses unmatched determination, vast knowledge in the healthcare administration field and strong leadership, all of which he has brought to his role as president and CEO of Harrington HealthCare during his eight years there.

Since taking the reins, Moore spearheaded the growth of the healthcare nonprofit from a Southbridge-centric hospital to the go-to health services provider in southern Worcester County and parts of Northeastern Connecticut. The nonprofit has received top marks on the Leapfrog Group's prestigious hospital evaluation survey on patient safety for the past three years.

“We're not a place people can ignore any more. We're a dominant player,” he said.

Moore grew up in Queens, N.Y. and got his bachelor's degree from SUNY Binghamton in upstate New York. After college, he moved to Washington, D.C. to get his master's in business administration with a focus in health care from George Washington University.

“I always wanted to be in a business where I would make a difference,” he said. “I felt health care would give me the opportunity to work with people and doctors and have an impact on the community.”

After getting his degree, he worked at hospitals in Washington, D.C., Ohio, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. He was offered the top job at Harrington in 2007 and has been there ever since.

Under his leadership, some of Harrington's new facilities include an urgent care center, an obstetrics and gynecology provider, a behavioral health services center, Harrington HealthCare at Webster on the site of the former Hubbard Regional Hospital, and a cancer center.

The nonprofit has about 1,300 total employees, making it one of the largest employers in the area. A second urgent care location with 11 exam rooms and 5,000 square feet of space is scheduled to open in Oxford this June, and a 14-bed inpatient facility in Webster for patients suffering from mental health issues and substance abuse will open later this year.

Moore was chosen for the CEO's chair because he seemed to have the ability to drive things forward by setting high expectations and putting together a good team, said Alan Peppel, the CEO of Dexter-Russel, Inc. who was the head of the search committee.

“The thing that makes Ed different is rather than saying, 'We're going to do this or that,' he's a big believer in replacing 'or' with 'and,'” Peppel said.

As CEO, Moore has completely changed the culture at Harrington, said Larry Morrison, a Harrington board member and president of the Quinsigamond Community College Foundation Board.

“Every board meeting starts with a story, an anecdote from a former patient who is never named – never named – about their experience, good, bad, ugly, whatever it was,” Morrison said.

Moore is also a very proactive leader, who fixes things pretty much as soon as he realizes they might not be working, Morrison said.

“One day, I came into his office, and he was looking out the window … [which] overlooks the main parking lot. He turns around said very quietly ...'I see an awful lot of motorists driving around and round trying to find a parking space.' Well pretty darn quickly, property was acquired and more parking was created,” Morrison said. “He is attempting at all times to think and feel the way patients think and feel, the way their families think and feel, and how all of the health workers and the administrative staff think and feel.”

While he's very proud of Harrington's growth, Moore said he can't take all the credit. Its status as one of the state's few remaining independent, nonprofit community health care systems means it is well-equipped to respond to area needs.

“To me leading is not just one person, it's an entire group. It's bringing the right people in,” he said.

Read about the other 2016 Business Leaders of the Year:

Entrepreneurial Business Leader: Michael Covino

Corporate Citizen: Fallon Health

Large Business Leader: Elaine Osgood

Video

2016 Business Leaders of the Year: Edward H. Moore, Harrington HealthCare System