Doctor Fails to Overturn Conviction for Kickback Payments

A Georgia doctor wasn’t harmed by a judge’s instruction that a jury consider his motivation for accepting illegal healthcare kickback payments, the Eleventh Circuit said Tuesday in affirming his conviction.

Dr. Alap Shah, a podiatrist in Columbus, Ga., was convicted for his role in a kickback scheme that involved writing prescriptions for compounded drugs, which are more expensive than off-the-shelf medications. Shah received checks totaling more than $55,350, and the prescriptions he wrote cost Tricare, a federal program for members of the military, more than a million dollars, according to the federal government.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern ...