To help hospital employees and their families who have been devastated by the massive flooding in Louisiana, the Louisiana Hospital Association Research and Education Foundation has established the Louisiana Hospital Employee Assistance Fund. The fund will help hospital employees who live in one of the FEMA-designated disaster parishes in Louisiana and who have suffered significant property loss to their home during the August 2016 flooding disaster. It is estimated that more than 5,000 hospital workers have suffered significant property loss to their homes, many of which were not insured against an unprecedented 500-year flood of this magnitude. Donations will help evacuated hospital employees, many of whom have been sleeping at hospitals to make sure those who need care get it, keep their families safe while they continue to tend to the thousands of other Louisiana residents in need. If you or your organization would like to contribute to this effort, to which MHA will be donating as well, please visit www.LaHospitalEmployeeFund.org.

The Daily Record this week announced its 2016 Innovator of the Year honorees and two Maryland hospitals were on the list. Kennedy Krieger Hospital and Sinai Hospital of Baltimore are among 31 honorees that have created new products, services or programs that have had a positive effect on business, industry or the community. The Maryland Center for Developmental Disabilities at Kennedy Krieger Institute and its Associate Director Maureen Van Stone received the honor after launching an initiative with the University of Baltimore School of Law to provide young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, who receive services at Kennedy Krieger Institute, with access to critically advocacy and legal services for their future and estate planning needs. Sinai Hospital and President Amy Perry received the award in recognition of a new BioIncubator, the state's first located inside a hospital. The Sinai Hospital BioIncubator is a state-of-the-art laboratory and research center where biotech and life sciences companies can leverage resources and research opportunities, including access to the hospital's own medical experts and researchers, to advance medical breakthroughs. The initial focus is on medical device and diagnostic start-up companies. The BioIncubator's first tenant, Accelivir, moved in this summer and other start-ups will come on board soon. The winners will be celebrated at a reception Oct. 13 at the American Visionary Art Museum.

The Maryland Health Care Commission, in collaboration with the Healthcare Information Management Systems Society Maryland Chapter, the Health Services Cost Review Commission, and the Maryland Hospital Association, will convene a Hospital Cybersecurity Symposium on September 7 at the Westin BWI. Health care leaders and security professionals are invited to attend at no charge. Click here to download the agenda; to reserve a spot, click here.