Recent News: Minnesota Health Care Companies Poised to Benefit From Economic Stimulus Plan

MINNEAPOLIS, MN, April 13, 2009 -- Minnesota has long been a leader in the world of heath care. From the Mayo Clinic to the University of Minnesota's medical school to Medtronic, innovative technologies, philosophies, and minds have been a hallmark of the land of ten thousand lakes for decades. So while much of the country remains up in arms about wall street bailouts and golden parachutes, Minnesotans should revel in the fact that the less often mentioned portions of President Obama's stimulus package, the money allocated for health care, will be creating jobs in their neighborhoods and continuing a statewide tradition of excellent health care for its residents. As recently as 2006, Minnesota was ranked the healthiest state in the nation by the non-profit United Health Foundation and has been in the top five for the past decade.

To maintain this tradition it should be no surprise that Minnesota has a rich history of innovative thinking in the area of health care and health care technologies. Take for example, the Mayo Clinic's groundbreaking "group practice" model established in the early 1900s at a clinic in Rochester Minnesota. The founding minds, Drs William Mayo and Charles Mayo, had the nerve to pay all their doctors a fixed rate regardless of patient volume with the intent of boosting the amount of time a doctor could spend with his or her patients. In a 1910 commencement address to graduates of Rush Medical College Dr. William Mayo said, "The best interest of the patient is the only interest to be considered." Leading health care analysts from around the country agree that this model is the most capable of delivering high-quality, cost-effective care.

Minnesota based medical institutions and companies like the Mayo Clinic and Medtronic have not received any bailout funds and won't be needing any. After all, Medtronic got its start building pace-makers in a garage. It's a safe bet that they have an idea on how to operate during tough economic times. Medtronic isn't alone in this capacity; companies within the state of Minnesota have made it a national leader in manufactured medical devices since 1949. A 2008 study found that Minnesota had 455 firms combined in the electromedical apparatus manufacturing and medical equipment and supplies manufacturing industries. These companies, including Medtronic, and combined with the Mayo Clinic employ over 60,000 Minnesotans. Employment growth in the medical devices sector between the years 2001 - 2007 has averaged +4.1% annually in Minnesota, easily outpacing the annual job growth rate for all private sector jobs in the Unitied States at +0.5% over this same period.

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