Senator Richard T. Moore, Senate Chairman of the influential Joint Committee on Health Care Financing in the Massachusetts General Court, was among the principal architects of the landmark Massachusetts health care reform law (Chapter 58 of the Acts of 2006) that has resulted in near universal access to health care and established the foundation for health cost containment. He also led the successful effort, with Senate President Therese Murray, to pass comprehensive legislation (Chapter 305 of the Acts of 2008) to further improve the quality of health care and contain health costs. These efforts have been among the building blocks of national health reform legislation currently being developed in the United States Congress.

Initially elected to the Massachusetts Senate in a special election in April 1996, Senator Moore is presently serving his seventh full two-year term. He is constantly in the forefront of issues affecting the health of the people of Massachusetts. Widely acknowledged for his leadership in state health care policy and advocacy for patient safety and the reduction of medical errors, his imprint can be found on nearly every piece of health care legislation enacted in Massachusetts since 1999, including the recently enacted Small Business Health Insurance Transparency, Quality and Cost Containment Law (Chapter 288 of the Acts of 2010) and the School Nutrition Law (Chapter 197 of the Acts of 2010). The small business health insurance law is designed to promote job growth by reducing the costs of employee health insurance, while the school nutrition law also helps the economy by promoting the purchase of Massachusetts grown fruits and vegetables and seafood.

Senator Moore was the principal sponsor of numerous legislative initiatives including the establishment of the Betsy Lehman Center for Patient Safety and Medical Error Reduction, a state-based center for research, education, and policy focused on evidence-based solutions to patient safety issues; MassMedLine, the Massachusetts eHealth Institute, a state board to promote meaningful use of health information technology; physician licensing requirements for meaningful use of health information technology, a prescription assistance program operated by the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy; Senior Care Options (SCO), a managed care plan for Medicare/Medicaid eligible, low-income elders; the use of electronic signatures for prescriptions ( e-prescribing) to reduce errors and cost; a first-in-the-nation pediatric palliative care program to help seriously ill children and their families; and a falls prevention initiative to reduce falls especially among older residents. In addition, Senator Moore also initiated the Commonwealth's Statewide Infection Prevention Program and the Massachusetts Quality and Cost Council.

In addition to his extensive health care portfolio, Senator Moore has championed legislation to improve the efficiency and transparency of state government aimed at making state government work better. He convinced his Senate colleagues to adopt a “sunset” law to require agencies to demonstrate their efficiency and continued value to taxpayers on a regular basis, although the provision did not survive a House-Senate Conference Committee. However, he was successful in co-sponsoring a plan to put the state budget on-line in an understandable format and sponsored a provision in the Economic Development Reform law to require that the state’s job development agencies be subject to performance appraisals. He voted against raising the sales tax and the gas tax in the current term because of its negative impact on those struggling with the economic recession.

Among Senator Moore’s accomplishments during his public service are the abolition of Worcester County government. Although communities throughout Worcester County have been relieved of the growing burden of this archaic additional layer of government, fiscal year 2011 is now the first year that no longer adds an assessment on local property taxes for the re-payment of the county debt, offering real relief for property taxpayers. He was also among the leaders in promoting the establishment of the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor and has served as a commissioner since the corridor’s inception.

Senator Moore was a lead co-sponsor of the reorganization of the state’s school building assistance program with a dedicated funding source from the sales tax. The reform has put the program on sound financial management and has helped to pay off school debt and promote state assistance for new schools throughout Southern Worcester County and across the Commonwealth.

Senator Moore has championed the construction of the Blackstone Valley Bikeway, the French River Greenway in Webster and Oxford, the Quinebaug Rail Trail in Southbridge and Dudley, the reconstruction and, now, resurfacing of Route 146 and the connector with downtown Worcester and the Massachusetts Turnpike. He helped to lead efforts to block a mega-dump in Douglas along the Webster town boundary and fought an earlier attempt to pave over much of Douglas and South Uxbridge to build a second international airport during the Weld Administration.

Currently, the Senator is the President of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), the widely respected national association of legislators and legislative staff. He also is co-chair of the NCSL’s Health Information Technology Champions (HITCh) Project and an active member of the National Governor’s Association State e-Health Initiative – both aimed at encouraging the broader use of health information technology across the nation.

He is a former associate director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the Clinton Administration, a former nine-term member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, and a former college administrator. He is also a former three-term Hopedale Selectman, and was President of the Massachusetts Selectmen’s Association (now part of the Massachusetts Municipal Association).

Married for 31 years to the former Joanne Bednarz of Uxbridge, he holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Clark University (Worcester, MA) and a master’s degree in student personnel administration from Colgate University (Hamilton, NY), and is the recipient of two honorary degrees – a doctorate of science degree from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and a doctor of humane letters degree from the New England College of Optometry