HomeCare Editors’ Top 5: Week of September 21

Healthcare industry nervous about readiness for big ICD-10 conversion
Ready or not, the U.S. healthcare industry is poised to flip the switch from the ICD-9 to the ICD-10 diagnostic and procedural coding system on Oct. 1, significantly changing how billions of dollars in medical claims are calculated and billed every day. (Joseph Conn/Modern Healthcare)

California Doctor Charged in $150 Million Insurance Scam
An orthopedic surgeon was charged as the ringleader in one of the state’s biggest health fraud schemes, which included unnecessary operations by an untrained assistant that scarred patients forever, according to indictments unsealed Tuesday. (The Associated Press)

School Nurses Stock Drug To Reverse Opioid Overdoses
In most places around the country, if a teen has an overdose at school, nurses can do nothing but call 911 and wait for the paramedics. (Michelle Faust/NPR)

Medicare unfairly penalizes hospitals treating sickest, poorest
For the last four years, Medicare has wielded a big stick: It has fined hospitals if too many of their patients returned to any hospital within weeks of being released. (Lena Sun/Washington Post)

Proportion of Americans without health insurance dropped in 2014
The proportion of Americans who lack health insurance fell markedly last year, according to new federal figures that provide the strongest evidence to date of how the Affordable Care Act is driving changes in health coverage across the country. (Amy Goldstein/Washington Post)