"We met a lot of friendly, welcoming people, even though they didn't know who we were," he said last week while reflecting on his first 90 days at the hospital. "A lot of small communities are closed to outsiders. It was obvious this one isn't."
Moore happy with his new community, and the hospital he heads.
"You can only function effectively with good people, and we have good people working here," he said.
Moore brought a variety of experience to the job. The Morganfield native has worked in hospitals in cities as large as Nashville and Louisville and as small as Marion, where he headed the Crittenden County hospital immediately before arriving.
Logan Memorial has the equivalent of 200 full-time employees and is licensed for 92 beds, 77 of which are now open. "We've been so busy lately that there were a couple of days I thought we were going to have to pull some beds out of storage," he said.
As is typical of many hospitals now, patient visits to the emergency room and out-patient facilities provide a significant percentage of the total business volume. Procedures that 10 years ago led to a week-long stay at a hospital are now done on an out-patient basis.
"Even though this hospital is relatively new, when it was built 20 years ago, it was designed to be primarily in-patient," Moore said. "So we've learned how to adapt. In fact, all hospitals have been forced to adopt to new technologies because insurance companies demanding reduced stays in the hospital."
Recent improvements in MRI technology at Logan Memorial have led to increased usage. "Radiology did more diagnostic work this August than in any other month in the hospital's history," Moore says. "We also have more specialists on staff to make use of the services we have available."
He said those enhancements have come in such fields as pulmonology, gerontology and gastrointerology. Also the obstetrics ward has been upgraded and expanded
"We hope to recruit an additional general surgeon, another OB/GYN, another family practice physician, and an ears, nose, and throat specialist," he said. "It's critical, though, to fill the positions with the right people.
Building projects that were put on hold by the parent LifePoint company are being reinstated. They include expansion of radiology and surgery, renovation of ICU and eventually renovation of the emergency room and medical offices.
Greg Moore says, "Our goal is to provide more services, as long as they can be supported locally. That support comes in staffing, patients and finances."
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