Best of 2010: Top Law & Malpractice Stories of the Year

From HIPAA to STARK laws, legal issues continue to challenge and sometimes bewilder physicians' practices nationwide. While focusing on medicine, no doubt a few legal matters crossed your mind this year as patients came in and out of your office.

Here are our top 10 stories on law and malpractice issues, according to you - our readers -this year:

10. Quality TimeThanks to healthcare reform and quality initiatives, the immediate future of your practice will increasingly depend on how and where you spend your time. It is vital then to address the quality of the time you spend with your patients.

9. Medicare's New Bounty HuntersConcerned about Medicare’s new Recovery Audit Contractors snooping around? Though your practice may not be affected by RACs for at least a year, the time to ready your defenses is now. Here’s how.

8. Internal Investigation Form Use this form to document internal review of and response to complaints concerning compliance with human resource, HIPAA, Medicare billing, or other ethical and legal guidelines.

7. Recovery Audit Contractors 2010 See who the RACs are in your region.

6. Patient Records Legal Primer Here’s what you need to know about keeping, transferring, and destroying patient records.

5. Can Health Courts Cure the Malpractice System?Specialized courts may be the answer to rising medical liability insurance costs.

4. Records Requests: Know What's LegalHere's your guide to learning the rules and creating a failsafe process for handling requests.

3. 2010 Best States to PracticeTrying to decide which state to practice in? Our guide to state-level conditions affecting physicians' wallets will help you choose wisely.

2. A Manager's Guide to Dealing with LawsuitsHere's how practice administrators can help prepare your practice's defense against a liability claim.

1. Lawyer Repellant Do you feel helpless against the threat of lawsuits? Many docs do. Yet there are ways to reduce your risk of being sued. Arm yourself and your staff with best practices, because keeping malpractice lawyers at bay requires vigilance and commitment.