The picket signs are printed and neatly stacked. The replacement nurses have been hired.It’s on.Barring a last-minute miracle, 12,000 nurses throughout the Twin Cities will strike from 7 a.m. Thursday to 7 a.m. Friday, the largest nurses strike in the history of the United States.The union representing nurses has been sparring with the six-metro hospitals [...]

Excelen, a nonprofit orthopedic research and education foundation, will raise $12 million over three years to establish a downtown Minneapolis incubator and early-stage seed fund to back promising orthopedic start-ups.The incubator will be located at Excelen’s headquarters near Hennepin County Medical Center and the Metrodome, where it already operates laboratories and research facilities. Prominent orthopedic [...]

Another day, another new local early stage fund.Upwind Medical Partners is launching a $6 million to $8 million early stage fund that will focus on commercializing intellectual property from health care/research institutions like the University of Minnesota, Wisconsin Alumni Research Fund (WARF), Allina Hospitals & Clinics, and John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.Founded by Jim O’Reilly, [...]

Drug companies face bills that require disclosure of industry payments to doctors and funding for medication waste disposal.

Medica Encore is targeted at the pre-retirement boomer generation ages 50 to 64 who lack traditional health coverage through employers or other group sponsors, the company says.