Night Read (Minnesota): Number of uninsured rises sharply in Minnesota

Here are some news/notes from a day in MedCity, Minnesota:

The state Health Department reported the number of uninsured Minnesotans grew by over 100,000 from 2007 to 2009, according to the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal. The department estimates that 9.1 percent of Minnesotans, or 480,000 people, were without health insurance in 2009, compared with 7.2 percent, or 374,000 people in 2007.

A top U.S. executive at Invatec predicted the company’s recent acquisition by Medtronic Inc. of Fridley would accelerate growth in its cardiovascular business, according to The Express-Times in Easton-Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The company, based in Italy, makes stents and angioplasty balloons.

OrthoCor Medical in St. Paul will release next month its core (and so far, its only) product — a unique knee brace that provides temporary relief of joint pain and arthritis and, longer term, reduces swelling and pain, according to the Star Tribune in Minneapolis. The company received approval from the Food and Drug Administration late last year.