I believe the website pdf page of TCS is bogus. Why would it take you directly to TCS's page with no access to any other information?
Why would it be a pdf.? TCS is a con man and that's all. Either it's a cover or he ripped people off somehow convincing them he was an official somebody.
http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/
The above might be a legal link to learn about and/or obtain info about hipaa laws which are laws to ensure one's privacy.
I don't understand why a practitioner would be identified by a hipaa number. :waitasec:
When I see a new doctor, I sign a sheet that promises they respect my privacy. It has nothing to do with the exchange of money.
I linked directly to a PDF after a few steps that I can't recall, I don't know if it's the same one.
NPI is not a HIPAA number by itself.
I work at an academic medical institution, so this entire thing puzzles me. The NPI number application looks to be a simple identifier like a social security number. Neither TCS nor the 'ministries' have a Medicare/Medicaid *provider* ID. Some sites indicate the ministry had a NC license, but does not show the license number.
BUT, the ministry could have been approved by private insurers or even the state of NC and not Medicare/medicaid. The absence of a Medicare/Medicaid provider number does not mean they couldn't bill *anybody*, just not Medicare/Medicaid
So it's possible that TCS/whoever was billing entities other than the federal government for whatever they were hypothetically doing for possibly hypothetical patients/clients.
A search on an NPI number pulls up everything that's attached to - HIPAA sites, physician listings, what have you.
My theory is that if it's the same person - and that hasnt been definitively established - TCS set up this mispelled ministry and quite possibly the paperwork slipped right past a state level bureaucrat or scanner that was used to seeing the familiar name & familiar services offered and an additional, "licensed" site was added, possibly using a license number found the same place we found them. Someone or something could have easily assumed it was a typo and given it a pass.
Either he swiped a legit license number or he was working with someone who was licensed.
If all if the above happened, it's pretty damned slick. I tried to ferret out TCS's education level today, had no luck.