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U.S. healthcare companies had soaked up $23.4 billion this year in venture capital funding as of Sept. 30, already well surpassing the sector's funding in all of 2017, and making up nearly 28% of total U.S. venture capital funding so far in 2018. That's according to Pitchbook's quarterly report examining venture capital spending in the third quarter of 2018. Last year, healthcare services and systems, healthcare devices and supplies and pharma and biotech amassed $20.5 billion in venture capital funding, with pharma and biotech capturing far and away the largest share of those dollars. Pharma and biotech has made up 62% of venture capital funding so far in 2018. (Bannow, 10/9)

Trinity Health, Adventist Health System and Tenet hospitals are among those opting into a new federal bundled-pay initiative that aims to improve patient care in both hospitals and post-acute care while lowering overall costs. In all, 1,299 entities have signed agreements with the CMS to participate in the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Advanced model. The participating entities will receive bundled payments for certain episodes of care as an alternative to fee-for-service payments that reward only the volume of care delivered. (Dickson, 10/9)