Linda Moore – Maury Regional Health

Linda Moore says she knew her career path when she was in elementary school.

“A teacher said I should go into a professional career, either a doctor or a lawyer,” she says. “I didn’t want to be a doctor but had no idea what a lawyer did. Now I can’t imagine doing anything else. It’s such a privilege to do what I do.”

Linda Moore | Chief Legal Officer | Maury Regional Health

Moore says that while she knew a legal career would provide a wealth of career opportunities for her, she’s always preferred to use her expertise to help people in the Tennessee communities where she was raised.

Serving as chief legal officer for not-for-profit Maury Regional Health has enabled her to do so.

“Like everyone else here, I have a passion for helping people,” Moore says. “I love my job, the caring culture and the innovations that go on at Maury.”

Community-centric care

Headquartered in Columbia, Tennessee, Maury Regional Health is anchored by the 255-bed Maury Regional Medical Center. It also includes Marshall Medical Center and Wayne Medical Center, and the Maury Regional Medical Group of more than 125 providers.

In all, Maury Regional Health is the largest health care system from Nashville to Huntsville, Alabama, with about 3,000 employees throughout the system. It has been named an IBM Watson Health 15 Top Health System six times and was recognized in August by U.S. News & World Report as a high-performing hospital for its work in treating colon cancer, heart attacks and knee replacements.

Moore says Maury Regional Health’s innovative practices include being the first to use the INHANCE Shoulder System of integrated shoulder arthroplasty with a 3D-printed implant in 2022. Two surgeons recently performed the 100th INHANCE procedure at the hospital.

Maury Regional Health is also expanding with a $115 million, three-to-five-year plan that includes adding two stories to Maury Regional Medical Center. The new seventh floor will be used for high acuity patient care—short-term care provided to patients who need special supervision while recovering from a serious illness or injury. The eighth story will be set aside for future patient care needs.

Additionally, the ambulatory surgery center will be expanded with an emphasis on orthopedics—freeing up existing operating rooms to care for the area’s expanding population, Moore says. The emergency department will be renovated and expanded with 10 new treatment areas, bringing the total to 48 such areas. Other renovations include adding three post-delivery patient rooms and a delivery room on the childbirth floor.

Along with the expansions and improvements to Maury Regional Medical Center, the health care system will build new health parks with primary and specialized care services in nearby Lawrenceburg and Spring Hill. The Lawrenceburg health park will be funded, in part, by a $2.4 million grant from the state, secured under the leadership of Nathan Miller, president of the medical group.

A new lease on sustainability

According to Moore, the health system has reached an energy-as-a-service agreement with construction engineering firm Bernhard LLC to lease Maury Regional Medical Center’s energy assets, such as boilers, chillers and cooling towers.

Money from the lease will fund upgrades to the energy asset infrastructure, driving energy efficiency and sustainability efforts at the hospital. The lease will also help fund the other expansion projects where Moore is managing the legal responsibilities for the real estate and construction.

While Moore negotiated the agreement with Bernhard with help from outside counsel at Butler Snow and worked with government officials to obtain necessary approvals for the lease, she credits Chief Administrative Officer Charlie Brinkley for recommending the collaboration.

Moore also chairs the patient experience council focused on enhancing the patient experience. She was asked to take on patient experience oversight after leadership changes during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the issues also resonate personally because Moore was once treated at Maury Regional Medical Center for a stroke.

She’s enjoyed a full recovery, and says she’s worked with other leaders to identify opportunities for improvement and develop action plans, particularly in non-clinical areas. Those include refining the registration process to ease access to care, enhancing meal options, reducing noise on patient floors and improving billing processes.

Making an impact

Moore, who’s from the Columbia area, earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and sociology from Vanderbilt University before finishing first in her class as she earned her J.D. from Vanderbilt Law School. Before entering private practice, she was a judicial law clerk for Judge Gilbert S. Merritt, who was chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

She joined Maury Regional Health part-time in 2000 (she was also teaching law at Vanderbilt), but soon after, she moved to North Carolina. Her move didn’t end her tenure at the health care system, though. Instead, she began working a full-time hybrid schedule she still uses. Moore is onsite about twice a month, meeting with the board and her teams, including compliance, internal audit and risk management.

Moore’s home life has been adventurous, too. She and her family have enjoyed extensive travel including hiking to Machu Picchu in Peru, biking along the Danube River in Europe, camping in Botswana, climbing on polar ice caps in Antarctica, and most recently, exploring Egypt and the Nile River Valley.

While Moore may not have envisioned how in-house and in-community work would look in fifth grade, it’s made for a fulfilling career.

“I love working in-house with so many talented people who are passionate about providing the highest quality of care to our patients,” Moore says. “And I love leading our teams in creating an exceptional patient experience for every patient, every day. Having a positive impact on enhancing the patient experience is very rewarding.”