08/19/2025
Good afternoon KCBC Friends and Family. My name is William Brock, Chief Administrative Officer for KCBC. I wanted to write this post to you regarding information that you may have seen posted on social media or watched last month in a local news segment on TV.
My post is long, but I want the opportunity to share with you more insight and detail regarding current gossip being circulated on social media in as professionally informative manner as I can.
Please forgive my avoidance of any accusations or allegations regarding other entities or people as I try to communicate our story as transparently as possible while also trying to avoid creating any legal liability for my employer as I am writing this to inform our patients and community I serve. Please feel free to google any of the information in my post, I am gladly sharing links and encourage you to explore the non- KCBC-affiliated links. It is no secret that press releases by design are to be informative while trying to maintain an appearance of indifference but often do withhold information that would remove sensationalism and make for a less exciting or self-scrutinizing story.
On May 21st, 2025, the Department of Justice issued a press release regarding False Claims allegations involving Agendia Genomics company. The release went on to state that KCBC and another entity had settled related claims. The press release along with the news coverage and social media posts have caused several negative comments from some of our referring physicians and patients who could only speculate as to what occurred. First, I want to assure our patients and referring physicians that KCBC does not have and has not any board sanctions or exclusions from federal programs which can be checked on the publicly available OIG Exclusion list (LEIE) or System for Award Management (SAM). We are still in good standing with both Medicare and Medicaid.
The local news outlet stated they reached out for comment but did not receive a reply. Many of you who come to KCBC know that both I and the patient advocate have our cell phone numbers printed on our business cards and KCBC has no record of any contact from any media source regarding the settled allegations.
KCBC opted on settlement to maintain our focus and income on providing our specialized patient care opposed to taking our chances in court and using limited financial resources to spend time and effort in a lengthy legal process.
We would like to share that while KCBC feels taken advantage of by some unscrupulous ex-employees of the genomic company, we still see the advantage of the MammaPrint testing which studies the genetics of a tumor to give a patient greater coverage of gene testing versus the traditional oncotype testing. Unfortunately for both KCBC and patients, the genomics company is the only provider of that testing that includes 78 different genes compared to the 30 tested by Oncotype. KCBC had a standing order to facilitate that testing for cancer patients and some of the specimens selected by the genomic company were samples from patients already past their treatment phase.
When KCBC discovered that the genomic company was billing both patients and Medicare we immediately rescinded the standing order but it was too late as authorities were already alluding that the genomic firm was doing the same to multiple other providers in other states including some academic and hospital providers as alleged to the owner and I both in an appearance for questioning with federal authorities. I will include the link to the press release by the DOJ in this post for and include excerpt statements directly from the signed settlement agreement, which was signed by five government officials, one State official, the owner of KCBC, our legal counsel, the physician relator’s counsel and the physician relator. We encourage you to explore the links in the post and draw your own conclusions.
KCBC did not bill for any genomic testing, which we could prove, but billing was done by the genomic company and the allegations instead suggested we were provided with expensive or extravagant meals, which were factually just a few dinner meetings for them to explain the methodology and details regarding testing statistics, and several deliveries of fast-food chicken sandwiches or biscuits for our staff bruncheons. It is not uncommon for vendors and pharmaceutical reps to provide meals for healthcare workers and providers in most fields of medicine. For this reason, gifts such as meals or donuts given to a provider and received from medical vendors or pharmaceutical companies are reported by these companies and tracked by CMS, and are available to the public for review.
Discounts are also given to other public servants by community restaurants and businesses throughout the country every day.
Find the link by typing or copying the following into your Internet browser.
https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov/
Look up your favorite physician to see what they have received and compare them to other physicians you may know. I certainly did.
KCBC cooperated with the authorities during their investigation and held steadfast in disagreement with allegations made that we were a knowing and willing participant in another entity’s scheme and hope our community realizes that we depend upon providing quality service to receive our funding from our contractual agreements with your insurance and are not a regular recipient of government funding or grants.
We have historically chosen to use our funding to purchase new updated imaging technology to serve patients instead of spending it fighting allegations against our reputation.
Here are the following excerpts directly in the settlement agreement and I hope this information will help clarify the verbiage in the press release and that you will take careful notice in reviewing the press release of the tiny, italicized ending statement found in the press release. We do value our reputation, but not at the expense of providing appropriate care for our patients.
Respectfully, William Brock
“E. This Agreement is not an admission of liability by KCBC or Dr. Kozlowski as to the Covered Conduct or the allegations in the Civil Action” “KCBC and Dr. Kozlowski deny the allegations in Recital”
G. To avoid the delay, uncertainty, inconvenience and expense of protracted litigation of the above claims, and in consideration of the mutual promises and obligations of this Agreement, the parties have reached a full and final settlement to the Terms and Conditions set forth below.”
“14. KCBC agrees to cooperate fully and truthfully with the United States’ investigation of individuals and entities not released in this Agreement including but not limited to, Agendia” signed in February 2024.
Find the press release by copy and pasting in your browser and thank you for your time and consideration.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-edtn/pr/agendia-inc-knoxville-comprehensive-breast-center-pllc-and-knoxville-0
